Fake chemistry!
by Evercry
Summary: A new kid is transferred to Elmore junior high from halfway across the world. Sun shines on his path when he starts befriending all the whacky and zany people that he meets. Except, that's just his delusional expectation. Real life is difficult. Attending a class with younger kids because you got held back a year is difficult. Living in a town full of monsters, is difficult.
1. Chapter 1

Oh ew! Not another OC story! I bet he's a Garry/Mary sue! Just wait! Give me a chance.

Yes, this is an oc story and his journey in this world. However, the story will focus on him and his interactions for only 50% of the time. You'll see other characters doing stuff on their own, without the OC being present.

Now, to explain some things:  
The characters will look like they do in the show. No Gumball running around with human skin and face. That's just… Morbid. No, what I mean is, no athro. This is a Christian story after all. (Totally freaking kidding, I would never do that, why-)

The story will get dark at times, but the characters will stay true to themselves. The "children's show" attitude will still be present….maybe, who knows. We'll see. I mean, the show itself gets dark as hell sometimes, so yeah.

Ships are obviously going to be Gumball and Penny, Darwin and Carrie. Because that's canon and also the way of life. Maybe, just maybe, I'll give the OC a ship too, who knows, it's too early for me to say this.

Now then, off we go!

* * *

First thing that Neal heard upon waking up from his nap was the pounding music in his ears. The second thing, a long stretch of seats in front of him and at the very end, a lone person steering the wheel. The third, he was moving forward. He took the headphones out of his ears and stashed them into his pocket while pressing a stop button on his phone to cease the loud music. He stared at the screen of his phone, the time showed that it was six in the morning. Exactly one hour ago, he got off the plane and boarded a bus, which was currently taking him towards his new life.

He turned his head around to look out the bus window. He saw a desert, shrouded in the early rays of the rising sun. He always wondered why sometimes he could see the sun having a face. And why it could speak. It was a giant ball of burning gas, millions of miles away, and yet it could talk. He shaked his head, already feeling a headache coming on from trying to even question the laws of his world. And he learned it the hard way, that the best way to avoid having a headache from trying to question the weird and unexplainable, is to not question it at all. Sometimes he felt like he didn't belong here at all.

Besides, he had more pressing concerns. More heavier thoughts that needed to be addressed. Why exactly was he here. No parent could send out a child overseas to live alone in some town between forests and deserts, no doubt filled with dangerous creatures. Expect, his parents. Neal wondered how exactly did he earned his parents ire. Then the drowsiness from his short nap cleared out, and his mind arranged a mental list of reasons.

He got into many fights in his school, many of whom ended up being physical confrontations. But that was because he couldn't keep his anger problems in check. Bullies, classmates who were downright idiotic in his eyes, and of course, his own parents. That was one.

He didn't just study, he absolutely ignored studying, and missed out a lot of classes. His parents told him to study, but he just didn't listen. "Maybe they were too lax with my parenting?" Neal thought, trying to look at his situation from a third perspective. They always did allow him way more freedom than other parents would have. And how did he choose to spend this freedom? By having his eyes glued to the internet. His own choice led him to fail his grade, and he was held back by a year. His parents were enraged with that one.

But the final thing that drove the nail into the coffin, the accident that made his parents lose all their huge patience, was a fire. A fire that he caused in his room by mixing the wrong kind of chemicals and herbs. It wasn't a huge fire per se, but it did cause some damage to his bedroom wall.

And that was it, they got fed up, lost their cool and with couple of short arrangements and calls to few people, he was sent out on a lengthy transfer program to California state until he graduates. Of course that meant he has to attend classes diligently and have an above average GPA, otherwise, he would be kicked out and deported immediately.

He hated it, he resented his parents for doing this to him. He felt like they spat in his face and just threw him out into the world to be devoured by wolves. He clenched his fists tightly. He knew what he did was bad, wrong. He would have been fine with any punishment, but not this. Never before had he been punished, but now, it looked like all the punishments built up in one over the years and were crashed on top of him in one go. Away from the home he knew all his life, away from his friends. From the girl he had eyes on ever since fourth grade.

Bitterness, sense of betrayal, anger, fear. They swirled in his heart like a hurricane. His knuckles turned white from clenching his fists tightly for so long. Neal forced himself to inhale and exhale in an attempt to calm himself, and his racing heart. He didn't want to think so deep, so detailed. Seeing the world so clearly made him feel weak, insignificant, everything moved too slow and looked too sharp. All the built up fear of being thrusted into unknown place was beginning to catch up to him. But it wasn't working. He needed to calm down with the only way he knew how. The big, blue travel bag rested on the seat besides him. He pulled down the zipper, and digged around through all the clothing to the bottom of the bag. There layed a book, his notes on all the herbal mixtures, chemical mixtures, and both combined. And besides it, there was a small wooden box. He opened it up and took out one, tiny vial with a dark blue liquid inside. He unscrewed the cork and raised it up to his lips, a single drop of blue fell from the vial and ran down his throat. He quickly put the vial back in its box and closed his bag. The effects were instant, his heart rate slowed down to normal, his head became blissfully dizzy, his hands and feet felt pleasantly warm, and a small plume of blue smoke left his mouth with a content sigh. His troubles seemingly scattered themselves much like the blue tendril of smoke. Now everything around him didn't look so scary, everything felt, just fine. His resentment cleared away, the heavy anger seemingly melted from his heart and he felt safe, happy, and blissful.

With a renewed confidence in himself, he glanced out the window just as the bus passed a green road sign, which read 'Welcome to Elmore'. This was it. "A new beginning" He muttered to himself in a cheerful tone.

The bus came to a halt near a bus station. In the said bus station, there were no people present as it was still extremely early in the morning. Even the sun was barely shining from the horizon. The double doors of the vehicle parted and out from it came a human. Appropriately short for his age of thirteen years old, just barely above 5'2. Lengthy blonde hair, long bangs fell on his left eye, nearly covering it completely. Dark, sapphire eyes were clouded and barely focused as they slowly scanned new surroundings. He wore a simple, grey jacket and washed up, paling from use jeans of dark green colour A pair of sneakers matched his jacket in colour, and use. On the back, he had a very ugly looking school bag which was purple.

Neal took a step from the bus and watched as the driver, who was a literal dog, closed the doors, and drove away. He just stood there, taking it all in from the corner of the street where he stood at. Green lawns and fences surrounded almost every single house in the street, making it look like a normal and nice neighbourhood. He then plopped down on the bench that was near the bus sign, and from the pocket of his travel bag, took out a note. On it, there was an address of the family that he was going to stay with for the duration of his time here.

A name 'Wattersons' was written down along with the address, but a line was drawn over it and below it, a different name was written down, 'Kenae'. Apparently, the first family couldn't afford to feed another mouth and didn't want another kid on their plate, least that's what he heard. Following the street signs and the written down address, Neal began his trek down the street. He could have swore that the bus sign just blinked at him, but he ignored it and just kept walking.

It was still extremely early in the morning, but he figured that by the time he reached his destination, it will be time for school. His first day, at a new school. The thought alone made him anxious, and needy form the blue mixture. But the dizzy effects were still strong, evidenced by the slight sway in his step. So he refrained from touching it, for now.

He kept going down the street and following the green street signs. The houses with beautiful green front yards and fences were everywhere he looked. One particular blue, shabby house stood out for him because through the front window, he swore he caught a glimpse of a pink, overweight rabbit holding a bowl of popcorn, dressed in a brown bathrobe. Not only that, but when he rounded the street corner, still confused by the sight, he saw a black and white police vehicle rolling down the street. And he couldn't believe it. The driver was a massive donut with a blue police cap, pink frosting, white teeth made of clay in the top of it's hole and clay eyes. It also had two hands with white gloves on. The weird creature had a relaxed, not a single care in the world kind of look on its 'face' as it drove down the street.

Neal knew that the world was sometimes weird, but this was just freaky on a whole new level. Rubbing the back of his head, he power walked down the street with wide eyes filled with confusion and wonder. Just where in the world did this exchange program put him in? How come the news didn't report these creatures that defied all manner of evolution and biological life? He had so many questions swirling in his head and zero answers. Sure, his own town had some strange residents, bordering on the line of fantastical, like a man with gills or that lady that could float. However, nothing like this. Perhaps it was just America. Yeah, that had to be it. Surely the rest of the country, it's states, weren't like this, right?

The questioning of the entire world as he knew it came to a stop when he reached his destination. A two story house, it's walls were painted green. There was a small porch, with white coloured railings and one window below the overhang which was covered by lime green covers. There was one more at the second floor, also covered up by the same stile covers. Whoever these people were, they sure loved their green. And this, was his destination. He silently made his way towards the door.

Neal stood there, on the porch, his hand hovering near the door. He hesitated to knock. Random thoughts once more surfaced from his subconscious. What if the family he's was going to stay with will be strange as the rest of the residents in this city? What if they are cannibals? Bloodthirsty monsters that only appeared normal? He couldn't rule out those possibilities. Neal decided to keep his guard up from now now. From all the horrifying thinking, he already felt the itch to drink the medicine again.

He shaked the thoughts away. He literally had no other option. He knocked on the door, and braced himself for whatever horror might come crawling out from behind the door.

The white coloured door was opened after few moments of waiting. Neal struggled to keep a neutral expression after seeing the 'people' that were floating in front of him in the doorway. They were balloons. Actual balloons with faces that were drawn on by a black marker. They had long strings tied around the point where the air was to be blown into. One of the balloons was red, with glasses drawn on it's face, and bigger than the smaller, yellow one. From the long eyelashes, Neal guessed that the yellow one was a female.

Uncertainty soon rose within him. Did he get a wrong address? Did he mix up the street numbers? Were they dangerous? No, they didn't look like they could do much, only float at him aggressively if they felt inclined to do it.

The two balloons were looking at him with smiles on their faces, waiting for him to speak up first. In his great surprise, he forgot the basic politeness. "Ah.. G-good f-morning. Is this Ken… Knea...Kenae residency?" Great, now his English was lagging behind too. Just what he needed to get the day started. The numb tongue is one of the effects from his self made medicine as is the pleasant dizziness, which was fading rapidly this moment.

"Yes it is dear, and you must be the transfer student. Neal, right?" Asked the yellow balloon with a polite smile in a high pitched voice, like it was altered by helium.

"Yes, that would be me." He nodded in confirmation. So far, everything seemed to be going fine.

"Come in, come in." Said the red male balloon and floated to the side. His voice was a little deeper, but still affected by the helium as well.

Neal fixed the bag strap on his shoulder and stepped through the doorway. The inside of the house was as normal as one would expect. Except for the residents. He still couldn't get over the fact that he will have to live with balloons. For years. It will take a lot of getting used to.

"I'm Dexter, and this-" He turned to look at the smaller balloon next to him, "is Jessica, my wife." The red balloon introduced himself, never dropping the same, cheery smile as his wife.

"Pleasure to meet you!" Neal said with a smile that matched Dexter's and Jessica's. There was a small pause during which he debated whether or not he should offer a handshake. Then again, they had no hands, so he refrained from doing so. Oh how awkward it felt.

"Well, you should also meet our son!" Jessica said cheerily and floated over to the staircase. "Alan, honey are you awake?" She called loudly.

From the second floor came a response. "Yes mom, I will be down in a moment!"

Few seconds later, a dark green balloon floated down the stairs. He also had a face painted on with a black marker and wore the same smile while radiating happiness just like his parents. And his voice sounded exactly like his peers too.

"I don't know what I expected" Neal thought. Not good, with the dinizess going away, his mood was slowly swinging back to normal. Soon enough, he'll become unpleasant to be around. He subconsciously reached into his pocket for the vial, only to find it empty. Of course, he placed the vial in his travel bag before leaving the bus.

"Good morning mom, dad." The green balloon greeted his parents and glanced at the new arrival.

"Good morning son. Meet your new roommate, Neal!" Dexter said.

"Oh, pleasure to meet you, Neal! I'm Alan!" Said the green balloon, Alan. Then he did what could only be described as offering a handshake by extending his string towards Neal.

"Oh dear god, where in the nine pits of hell did I end up in?" Neal though and gently shaked the string. "Y-yeah...likewise." Neal's eyes widened a little. "Wait, roommate?" He thought in mild surprise. Which meant, he will have absolutely zero privacy? This day just kept getting better and better.

"Why don't you boys get to know each other a little and...Alan, show Neal where he will be staying!" Dexter suggested and gestured with his body towards the staircase.

"Alright, follow me!" Alan said and floated up the stairs, Neal begrudgingly followed behind while hauling up his travel bag.

Walking up to the second floor, there was a hallway. Three doors on the right side, and one door at the very end on left side.

"My room, or now, yours and my room is on this side" Alan floated over to the right, "The bathroom and toilet are right next to my room" He pointed with his string and the other two doors.

"Why would balloons need a toilet?" Neal wanted to ask, but thought about it instead. That question would be way too weird and now that he thought about, he didn't want to know the answer anymore.

"And over there is my parents room" He pointed with his string at the end of the hallway.

"Mhm, very nice" Neal responded dryly. "So this is where I'll be staying?" He pointed at the door leading into Alan's room.

"Yes! Come in, don't be shy!" Alan smiled and using his string, opened the door into his room. The room was normal at the very least. Pretty spacious, there was a dark green rug neatly placed in the middle. A bed, two to be exact, one with bright green sheets, and the other one with white. There was a wooden desk with a chair near a window, which was overlooking the street outside. There was also a wardrobe close to the door, which made Neal question even more things.

He just couldn't help it, he had to ask. "What's the wardrobe for?"

"Oh? It's where I keep my stick on ties!" Alan opened the wardrobe, and there were fifty differently coloured ties arranged in a neat line. "You can put your clothes here too. I don't use it for a lot other than my ties, so there's a lot of free space."

"Ah, goodie." Neal replied and looked at the beds. "I take it the white one's mine"

"I actually sleep there, but if you want it-"

"No, no! It's okay! I just thought… Nevermind." Not everything is colour coded, so Neal took a mental note of that. He placed his travel bag on the green bed and sat down on it. "This is where I will live from now on." He said out loud and sighed while rubbing his forehead.

"Yeah… Is everything okay?" Alan asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yeah, everything is peachy." Neal responded with a terse ring, like he was keeping himself from yelling. Everything once again was becoming clear and bright, his thought process began to speed up as well. He needed to take his potion, now. "Uhm…could you step out for a moment?"

Alan nodded in understanding. "Of course. New place. New people, you need a moment, but don't worry-"

"No, I need to switch my clothes for school." Neal exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. What he said was only half true. Neal didn't want for Alan to see that he was going to drink some sketchy drink. It'll raise a lot of unnecessary questions. He also didn't know if Alan was being super nice, or just condescending.

"Oh, okay then. Come downstairs after you're done changing, my mother always cooks the best bacon and eggs!" Alan said and on his way out closed the door.

Neal took a moment to slowly look around the room and drink in the silence. After all, pretty soon he will board a school bus going towards a new school. New people, new interactions. He took a deep breath stood off the bed and approaching the window, he leaned against it. From the window, he could see an all orange woman walking down the street with her child, who was all blue. Both of them were just single colour blobs with fingerless arms and legs. _"Are there no humans in this_ country?" Neal thought to himself. He guessed he will have his answer once he boards the school bus and sees the other kids and teachers for himself.

Neal turned away from the window and approached his bag. He still need to switch his clothing and drink his medicine.

He only switched out his jacket, from the boring washed up gray, to his button up school jacket. It was very dark blue, with coal black buttons, tight around the sides. It had an inner pocket, as well as two outside pockets, and one small one at the upper left side of the chest. It was split at the lower back quite a bit as well. He had to buy and wear it because his previous school required it. Thankfully, they didn't require specific pants to be worn. That would've been a pain. He never liked wearing this jacket, it greatly constricted his movement, especially around arms and shoulders. But he had some attachment to it now that he was going to attend a new school. And he was going to wear it with pride. Now that he had taken care of, he dug out his wooden box from the bottom of the bag and opened it up. There was a book at the bottom of the box, depicting herbs and various brews that he discovered. On top of it, sat a small vial, with blue liquid inside. He took it and removing the tiny cork, was about to take a drink before a thought occurred.

People. He was going to interact with people, and his would be classmates. Neal immediately decided to keep his interactions to a bare minimum, fade into the background and not talk to anyone unless addressed first. And even then, interaction from him would be professional and quick. It was probably going to get him labeled as a social outcast, but it will also make it easier for him to focus on his much required studies and his hobby. No friends here, meant no distractions. No painful goodbyes when he'll need to return to his home. And there it was again, thinking too deeply and detailed.

He took a small sip from the vial and closing it off again, placed it in his jackets inner pocket. Almost instantly, the potion too effect and Neal swayed slightly. Forget about not making friends! He was going to go down there and meet lots of new people whom he'll befriend. It was a dawn of new day, new opportunities and interactions!

-half an hour later-

The dinner proved to be most delicious and interesting. The way that balloons ate their food was through the holes at the bottom where the air is supposed to be coming in and out. And Alan was right, his mother was an amazing cook. How exactly did she operate cooking utensils still confused Neal, but he hardly cared right now. Everything was turning out great! He had a pleasant conversation with the balloons, they told him a lot about Elmore. The city was a minor metropolitan, residential district, financial district, park district. There was even an interstate highway.

Alan's parents suggested driving them both to school, but Alan politely refused, saying that it would be better if Neal met other students on the bus. And that's how both of them ended up standing outside, near the bus stop.

The time showed 7:45 on Neal's phone. The bus was going to arrive soon. Alan glanced at Neal and decided to break the silence. "Are you worried about meeting new people?" He asked out of curiosity.

"No, not at all!" Neal responded with a relaxed smile and looked up from his phone. "I'm actually really stoked. Meeting new people, making friends! It's going to be great!"

Alan beamed upon hearing his response. "Perfect! That's exactly the kind of attitude you should have! Trust me, you are going to love it here!"

"Oh I don't doubt it for a second! Are the teachers nice at this school?" Neal asked, hoping for a positive answer.

Alan winced a little. Neal was turning out to be such a nice person and now that he asked him about the teachers, Alan wondered what will his reaction be when he meets Miss Simian. He really hoped that the old baboon will go easy on the new student, otherwise it could ruin his first day here. "Y-yeah…they're really good teachers. Yep. Especially Mister Small! You will like him, he's a very relaxed, bright person!"

"Oh, then I can't wait to meet them!" Neal replied with a grin. He slightly adjusted his violet school bag and leaned closer to the street. A yellow bus was approaching the stop. "It's here."

The bus came to a stop, and the sliding doors opened. Voices of chattering students reached Neal and an excited smile spread on his face. Alan took a final look at Neal and floated into the bus. After a short pause, Neal climbed aboard as well. This was it. A new beginning.

-End of chapter 1-


	2. Chapter 2

Neal had climbed into the school bus and as expected, first sight was a surprise. The driver looked like a stuffed puppet. Two hands and legs, nothing too special there. However, his body was quite big, disproportionate compared to his appendages. All covered in orange, fuzzy fur. He had a big red nose and two big eyes. He also wore a black shirt with a logo of some rock band and blue jeans.

The surprise of seeing the driver was nothing when compared to the utter shock upon seeing the supposed students. Neal stood there, stunned for a moment, his eyes wide as plates. Creatures of all manner sat and chatted with each other. Everything was a blur for him. A potted flower with a constant smile, a weird bipedal creature with orange, red and blue fur that looked like sheep's wool, a blue cat wearing a tan sweater with grey trousers and many more. He even saw a banana with two black and skinny arms and legs. Googly eyes, and mouth made of clay. Living, breathing banana. There were even more students that looked otherworldly. "_Fascinating!" _He thought out of sheer bewilderment.

"Hey kid, mind taking a seat already? We don't have all day." Said the bus driver in a comically nasal voice.

"Ah, yeah. Sorry!" Neal hurried down the bus to find himself a seat. With every seat he passed, he attracted attention. Everyone stopped talking between themselves when he passed them and cast their gazes at his back.

"Is he new here?"

"I dunno, never seen him before."

There was one empty spot, so Neal sat down without thinking when the bus started to move. However, the person that sat near the window seat was by far the strangest one he had seen so far. It looked like an upside down chin. Top of the person's head was absolutely bald. Two googly eyes at the top and a massive mouth. He or she -Neal wasn't sure yet- had two hands without fingers. The person wore a blue and white plaid dress, so he took a wild guess that it was a female. Yet the worst was her loud breathing, to the point of making it creepy and awkward. However, Neal didn't mind it that much. Now that the initial surprise of seeing others has passed, he settled on to quietly sit and wait until the bus arrives at the school. However, the weird looking girl had other plans.

"Hi!" She suddenly yelped, making Neal jump in his seat. "What's your name?"

"Aaahm…I'm Ne-"

"What type of napkins do you like?" Was the question thrown at him before he could say his name, or ask for hers.

"A wha…?" Was his medicine making him slow down that much? Neal could hardly comprehend why would she would want to know what type of napkins he liked. Not wanting to be rude to the girl, whom might turn out to be a great person and an awesome friend, he cleared his throat and answered with a smile. "Oh, napkins. Right. I like them grey-"

A sudden frown on the girls face told him that she didn't like the answer, so he quickly changed his answer a little, "-and yellow!"

"I LIKE YELLOW NAPKINS TOO! AAAAAHRGH!" She suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs. Neal had leaned away from her as spit flew from her mouth. He glanced around the bus discreetly, no one seemed to pay her outburst any attention, but some interested looks were thrown specifically his way.

He leaned back in his seat and relaxed. Neal half expected for some students to curse her out, or throw something at her, or him. Kids were mean like that, especially in his old school. He scratched his head, not knowing how to carry on a conversation with her. He definitely didn't want an awkward silence to fall upon him, so he guessed that it was for the best to learn her name first. "So, what's your name?" He asked, hoping for a normal answer and not another loud outburst.

"My name is Sussie!"

"Oh, beautiful!" He complimented. Then again, looking at her for the second time, Sussie didn't look like the kind of person to know what 'making it awkward' meant. Of course Neal didn't even think it in a mean way, just guessed. He quickly threw a glance over his shoulder to find where Alan was sitting. He was much further away, near the back seat, smiling and happily chatting with a cactus. Much like the banana that Neal saw, it's arms and legs were exactly like his. The body looked like a normal cactus, with two big branches at the opposite sides of the upper part curving up.

Neal narrowed his eyes in an attempt to focus his sight and see if the cacti was a male or female. In his hurry, he forgot to put on his glasses before leaving. Now that his attention was brought on that, he took off his backpack from his shoulders and opened it up to look for his glasses.

* * *

On the other side of the bus, two students were talking to each other in slightly hushed voices. A literal cloud with a hollow face named Masami, and a potted flower named Leslie. "What do you think of the new guy?" Masami looked at the new kid sitting with Sussie. She wondered why would anyone, save for those two, Gumball and Darwin, sit with Sussie of all people.

"We don't know if he's a new student. We don't even know if he's in our class." Leslie pointed out to his friend. He didn't want to start gossiping without making sure that the newcomer was in their class.

"He's sitting with Sussie! Of course he's in our class!" Masami replied between quick glances at the newcomer. "He doesn't look that good either. And what's with that jacket, what, is he planning on giving a speech or a presentation?" She threw some snark and Leslie had to keep himself from giggling at the newcomers expense.

He gave Masami a disapproving look afterwards. His friend still judged by the appearance of the person. "I think it looks…" Leslie cut off for a moment and looked at him again for a bit longer to take in his appearance. "Yeah he's absolutely boring." He resumed, sounding quite disappointed.

Masami hummed in thought, a devious smile appearing on her face. "If he turns out to be a total loser, I could use someone who would carry books for me." She could already feel her carrying load lessening.

Leslie just rolled his eyes at his friend. "You really think he could do that with arms that skinny?" He asked without a hint of humor in his voice.

"Oh it hardly matters, I-" Masami saw out from the corner of her eye how the newcomer put on glasses. Big, round, thin rimmed glasses. "Oh no, look."

He shared a look with Masami and they both sighed. "He's a nerd." They said in union. Interest in the new student immediately disappeared and they began talking about things that mattered more.

* * *

Neal had finally found his glasses. With his far sight improved by his glasses, he could see what's further away better. Nothing was blurry anymore. Now that he could see better, he saw more interesting looking students. Of course his observations had to wait as the bus came to a stop near the school building. It was pretty much what he expected. Much like the other buildings, it looked normal.

When the bus doors entered, Neal waited for the rest of the students to file out before exiting himself. He didn't want to get caught in the traffic, or bump into the cacti person. Or a giant ice cream cone that just passed him.

Once the students left the bus, he stood from his seat, and let Sussie out as well. It was a good thing that the girl didn't rush him, or push him out. Although, she didn't seem to care that much. Once Neal got out the bus, the took a better look at the school front.

Three floors in total. There were stone steps with metal guardrails leading up to a set of three differently coloured doors. Above the small overhang roof, which had the name of the school, three long windows traveled up until the roof itself. The school already looked way better than his previous one.

With that thought in mind, maybe the time here won't be as bad. Just to make sure, Neal patted his pocket where the vial of blue mixture was and walked up the stone stairs. Once he entered the school, two things became apparent. The halls inside looked like what one would expect. Red lockers arranged near the walls, luminescent lights and the smell of sweaty teenagers. Second, not a single human in sight. Neal was overwhelmed by the brightly coloured people that were hurrying to classes. He could've swore he saw a paper cut out of a guy in a dress. Beings that flied, rolled, hopped, and skipped were all over the place. Neal shaked his head, it wasn't the time to be stunned. Classes were soon going to start, and he didn't know where was his classroom.

He didn't know where his locker was either, nor did he care very much since he had a backpack. He saw a tall ice cream cone standing near the lockers. The being was tall, lemon yellow arms, legs and the head. Big red lips formed a smile as the person chatted with what seemed to be a character from a video game. A black spider who looked like an 8-bit character.

Those two looked pretty friendly and approachable, unlike the floating ghost girl with an emo haircut and a skull hairpin.

Neal approached them and cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ahem, good morning, I would like to know where I could find-"

The black 8-bit spider floated from behind the ice cream person and got in Neal's face with a frown. "Excuse you, we're having a conversation here!"

Then again, looks were very deceiving in this case. He should've known that already. Never before had he seen someone get upset about such a menial thing. He now understood that the internet wasn't lying, everyone gets offended way too easily these days. Neal backed up a little to gain some breathing space, but the spider floated after him, seemingly getting more irritated by the second. "Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to-"

"What, huh?" The spider cut him off with an angry growl. "If you got something to say then say it!"

Once again, he was quite lost. The spiders anger was so sudden that Neal didn't know how to react or what to say in this situation. Lucky for him, the ice cream person stepped in before the situation could escalate. "Come on Ocho, leave him alone." A female voice, a little on the deeper, glutural side, but still a female.

"He started it!" Ocho argued angrily while zipping left and right in place like some kind of a glitched game character.

"I didn't start anything, I just wanted to know where the fifth grade classroom is." Neal quickly explained before he could get interrupted by Ocho.

The girls face lit up with a smile. "Oh, you must be a new student then!" She grabbed Neal by the hand all of a sudden -which was ice cold- and began dragging him towards unknown direction. "Let's go, I'll show you where our classroom is!"

"Hey! We were-" Ocho didn't have enough time to finish as the two students disappeared behind a corner. "AAAH! This new guy will get it!" Ocho fumed in anger and glared at the passing students. "What are you looking at!?"

"Our?" Neal repeated whilst getting dragged by the ice cream girl. Her grip proved to be quite strong, that or he was losing his muscle control due to her cold hand. She seemed a little forceful, although Neal paid more attention to the mild frostbite that was about to set in his palm.

"Yes! We're in the same class!" She responded happily and stopped in her tracks. "Ah! That's right! I'm Sarah!"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Neal" He replied immediately and pointed at his freezing hand. "I don't want to be rude, but can you let go of my hand? I'm losing feeling in my fingers."

"Oh! Sorry!" Sarah let Neal's arm go and giggled to herself with a small snort. "I'm a little pushy sometimes. Happens all the time."

"It's okay." Neal responded while blowing air against his hand in attempt to warm it up. He glanced to his right and found himself standing in front of a class door. "This here is…?"

"Our classroom!" Sarah announced in a grandiose manner.

"Cool." Was all that Neal said before being lead inside by Sarah. As he had guessed, majority of the classes are going to be held in one classroom, save for few exceptions like PE.

The classroom was as normal as the rest of the school. Desks with chairs were arranged in neat lines. Dark green chalk board near the teachers desk. At the end of the classroom on a bright green board, there were some graphs and posters hanged. Pretty mundane school posters, except for one that Neal found interesting. 'The world's largest tree' was the name of one graph and it depicted trees with eyes and mouths. As for the students, no one was in the class, yet.

"So! What do you think!?" Sarah asked with a big smile.

"Well, it's a classroom." Neal said and took a look around. Nothing out of the ordinary. Which was good. He didn't want to sit down on a chair, only for it to bite him or something. "Do I pick any seat, or is it already determined by-"

"You just take any free seat. I think that one near the window is free." Sarah pointed at the row of seats near the window.

Neal, however, pointed at the opposite side of room, the rows of desks near the wall, at the last corner desk. "What about that one?" He asked and began walking towards it.

"But you would be sitting behind…T-Tina." Sarah stammered a little, her look changing to that of concern.

"So, why does it matter?" Neal asked as he walked to his would be seat and dropped off his backpack near the desk.

"Well…" Sarah began, but didn't finish her explanation. She thought that it would be a pleasant surprise for Neal to see who he will be sitting behind. Then he maybe switch seats and sit closer to her. She really wanted someone to talk to these days. Someone who listened to her and shared her interests, unlike Ocho and the other girls from the cheerleader team. "It doesn't matter."

She then creeped up on Neal as he was checking out the tree poster and asked, "Sooo…do you have any hobbies?"

Even in his woozy state, Neal found it for the best to conceal the fact that he was into less than legal chemistry activity. Or as he liked to call it, 'alchemy'. "Yeah, mundane stuff you know. I like browsing the net. Watching cartoons, anime."

Sarah lit up at after Neal said 'anime'. "I love anime too! Do you have any favourites?" She asked with full blown excitement. Finally! Someone who shared her interests!

"Oh, some classics, some popular ones too. Clorox, Code grass, Live el live, Wyvern orb… Obstruct sanity." Neal worded out the ones off the top of his head. "There's plenty more that I don't remember the names of. Mainly because they're long and Japanese." He explained to the beaming girl.

"Oh I love those. The main character in Clorox is sooooo cute!" Sarah exclaimed with redening cheeks. "I even wrote a fanfiction about him and his friend!"

Neal however didn't share her enthusiasm for anime guys or fanfictions. "Ah… Y-yeah… cute indeed." He awkwardly responded. Anime fans tended to get over excited sometimes. Fortunately for him, the school bell rang, signifying the start of class.

"Awh!" Sarah groaned and went to take her seat. "We can chat more after class!"

"Yeah. Definitely!" Neal responded and took his seat. Despite her being overly excited and a little pushy, Sarah proved to be quite pleasant to talk to. Neal smiled to himself, he was already making friends.

Students soon began filling up the class

Everyone was from the morning bus, the ghost girl, banana. Neal noticed Alan float in as well, who gave him a little wave which Neal returned timidly. He then began to get a little nervous. Soon the teacher will walk in and ask him to stand in front of the class and introduce himself. His hand subconsciously gripped his jacket pocket where the vial was.

Soon enough, the seats have been taken by all the students, except for the one in front of Neal. He heard heavy thuds closing in on the classroom and yet another surprise presented itself. Through the door, came in a giant dinosaur. A T-Rex to be precise. Neal's eyes bulged out upon seeing the huge reptile. It approached the desk close to his, and Neal slightly slid back the chair he was sitting on the closer it got. The T-Rex squeezed in it's seat and waited for the class to begin, which left Neal wondering, if there's a massive dinosaur attending school, just who else will he meet?

He just sat there, completely unmoving for a moment and taking in his situation. Someone even greeted the dinosaur. 'Tina', was it's name. Female name, which meant the lizard was a girl. Well, as girly as a giant, flesh eating prehistoric reptile could get. Now he realised why Sarah questioned his choice of seat, plus, he couldn't see the board over the size of Tina. She blocked half the view. He even had to lean to the right to see the board. Neal debated whether or not he should ask her to hunch up a little, but then again, he chose this seat himself and the T-rex didn't look like the friendliest of creatures in this class.

Another person had entered the classroom after a minute. A baboon with a balding head, wearing a long dress with flower patterns. She took a seat at her wooden desk and took out few information papers from her desk drawer. They were her class papers, and one paper describing the new student.

"Alright, take your seats!" She said in a scratchy, screeching voice and read the paper over. "Hm…it looks like we have a new student. Great, another loser to add to the pile." She said and began the math class.

Neal found it rather interesting that he didn't have to introduce himself in front of them whole class, but the teacher calling him a loser was uncalled for. Yet looking from the third perspective, he had to agree with her. In terms of school, he was going to end up with the lowest grades again. No, this time, he is forced to change it. No skipping out on class, no elaborate lies to get out of school. No fighting behind school with other idiot students till his knuckles bled either. This was his chance to change, a new beginning. And he was quite thankful that the teacher didn't announce his age, as the other kids would quickly put two and two together. Neal took a deep breath and focused on the math class.

It proved to be rather easy. The minutes ticked away quickly. Since he was held back a year, he remembered some of the subjects from his first time in fifth grade. Soon enough, the school bell rang and majority of other kids rose from their seats and rushed outside. Except for Neal. He remained in his seat. He didn't have anyone to talk to, or any reason to go outside. Taking a look out the window, he saw the playground. Those kids were fast. The blue cat and the orange fish, amongst some other students were already outside and on the playground. He'll have to ask how they managed to get out so quickly.

Alan had floated up to Neal's desk with a slightly concerned look. He was accompanied by the cactus person whom Neal saw previously. "Everything okay buddy?"

"Yeah. Everything's good. Why are you asking?" He replied. 'Buddy' was a strong term. They only met today. Then again, friendship didn't have set rules.

"Well...You're just sitting alone at your desk. Perhaps you want to go outside and play? It's a nice day outside~!" Alan asked with an enthusiastic and hopeful smile.

"No." Neal responded. The reply came out a little colder than he would've liked. Alan even shared a look with his cacti friend, whom from up close, Neal identified as a girl. He decided to change the subject before they get pushy. "So, are you're going to introduce us?" Neal pointedly looked at Alan's spiky friend.

"Oh right. This is my one and only true love, Carmen." Alan said with a tinge of red on his green cheeks.

Carmen's cheeks turned a light shade of red as a smile spread on her face. "Nice to meet you, Neal. I heard you're staying over at Alan's house." Carmen then murmured to herself. "I'm so jealous…"

Neal nodded in confirmation with small smile. "Yes I am. It's a nice home and his parents are very good people." He complimented and looked out the window again. "You know what, it really is a nice day out. Can you guys show me around the schoolyard?"

Alan beamed as did Carmen. "It would be my pleasure!" He replied and they set out to go outside.

* * *

Walking through the student filled hallways, they entered the playground. It was a wide area with nothing but hard cement, surrounded by a tall fence, which had trees growing around it. Blue chalk was used to draw some physical activity games on the hard pavement. Basketball court was indicated with red chalk, with two, tall metal hoops at the end of both side. Benches dotted the entire length of the fence at the end of the yard. Small area with gravel in it was behind the basketball court with metal monkey bars standing tall. There were also few, round and green tables set near the corner of the yard, with a small patch of ground growing a tree that provided shade to the set tables. Not that the yard needed any shade to begin with as the schools shadow fell on half the yard.

Neal stood near the door leading into the school, glancing around the school yard as students chatted and played various games. "This is it! Our schoolyard!" Alan announced.

"Looks nice. " Neal commented.

"Come on, let's go sit somewhere in the sun!" Carmen said and lead Alan to the benches at the end of the yard with Neal tagging behind.

Once they found a good spot, Carmen decided to ask some things about Neal. It wasn't always that they got new students, so her interest was greatly piqued. "So Neal, from where are you? Pennsylvania? Texas?" She asked, completely missing each guess.

"Neither. I'm from Europe." Neal responded and sighed quietly. He will attempt to withhold as much information about himself as possible. They didn't need to know every single detail about him. Or anything for that matter.

"Europe! Wow! That's amazing!" Alan said with wonder evident in his voice, Carmen nodding along. "I always wanted to visit Fra-"

"What was your previous school like?" Came a question from Alan's right. Everyone jumped a little at the sudden voice. Sarah had sneaked up to them without anyone even noticing. How'd she even managed to do that was beyond Neal's understanding. However, it was a good thing for Neal, because her question had changed the subject and he didn't want them to know what country he was from.

Carmen frowned a little in response to the sudden scare. "Don't scare us like that, Sarah!"

"Ehehe! Sorry!" Sarah replied and redirected her attention back to Neal. "So, what was it like?"

"Well, this jacket is from my school." He pointed at his blue uniform jacket. "It's used to be like a required type of clothing."

"Ooooh! So you attended a private school?" Alan asked.

"What? No, nothing like that. It was a public school." He replied. Private school would've been a blessing, however, his family barely scraped together enough money to pay the bills, so it was out of the question.

"Huh, I always thought that only private schools required uniform." Sarah said to herself, but seeing as she wasn't getting the answer that she wanted, she continued pushing it. "Still, what was the school itself like?"

"Painful." Neal responded almost automatically.

All three students had confused looks on their faces. Neal thought that this would be the only time he will go into detail about anything in his life. It will also probably help him deter bullies from himself. "I always was bullied by the bigger kids. Correction, by a lot of kids. " He said as if it was the most normal thing ever. As luck would have it, his head began clearing up again.

"Although, I only allowed them to do it verbally. The second it would turn physical, I would strike back without hesitation." He added and then he lifted his hand and pointed at his knuckles. There were tiny, barely visible scars on each and every one of Neal's knuckles, both hands. "My shins look similar all the way up to my knees. There were times where I just wasn't tall enough, and had to resolve to using legs."

"Oh….that's, I'm sorry to hear that." Alan said with a sad, pitying look. However, others looked even weirded out to some extent.

There was a stretch of awkward silence, during which Neal glanced at each new acquaintance with a raised eyebrow. "What? You asked me to tell you, so I did."

"No, no, it's just...how should I put this-" Sarah began, "How bad were the fights?"

"Let's just say I had to watch a lot of action movies and martial arts tutorial videos until I could properly fight back." Neal replied. It took him days upon days of stretching and repeated practice until he could throw a precise high kick. Multiple days spent just trying to learn a spin kick. And even more so hours spent getting used to punching and moving correctly. All for the sake of earning a small manner of satisfaction when he fought back.

"It doesn't sound like a good environment to be in." Carmen said while drinking in what Neal said.

"Well, I'm glad you transferred here, Neal! Trust me, no such things happen here!" Alan said with reassuring smile.

"Of course they do!" Carmen and Sarah both said in union. "However, our school fights go two ways, either it looks like two babies are dancing and flailing their hands around, or… Well…" Sarah cut off intentionally, letting what she was trying to say sink in.

"Oh, I see. Then I have nothing to worry about!" Neal responded with bright smile, which was fake. Every school had its bullies and it was only a matter of time before they appear. He then noticed that some students were eavesdropping on their conversation. A sudden, aggressive glare from him made them avert their gazes. All of this attention, the information that he revealed, it was proving to be most disadvantageous to his initial plan of blending in and becoming invisible.

Their conversation was cut short when the school bell rang again, signaling a start of another class. And that's how his time carried on in school. Writing and paying close attention in class and afterwards, during the free period, he would hang outside with Alan and his girlfriend. Neal wouldn't talk that much and the more the day dragged on, the more his head and dizziness cleared out. He began growing increasingly annoyed and outright aggravated the more those two talked. The worst was when they began getting all lovely with each other, so Neal had to take off solo and go explore the school a little more.

He got more familiar with school layout, learned where the school gym was, the library too. The most interesting and the same time, annoying time was the lunch period. Food was served by the puppet man who drove the bus this morning. Sarah had come to sit besides him and discuss about anime, which again, was getting on his nerves greatly. It was as if she didn't know anything else besides cartoons, anime and fanfictions. Neal lost count of how many times he bit his inner side of cheek to keep himself from saying something bad to her. He liked the bubbly and excited ice cream girl, but at times she would just not shut her mouth.

Although, with him sitting at the last table in the cafeteria and getting clear view of the majority of students, Sarah had told him the names of students from his class and even pointed them out in the cafeteria. There was the walking banana, Joe. A walking toast with two legs and arms, Anton. A flying eyeball with two feathery wings, William. A walking potato with a draw on face, Idaho. A light blue cat with a brown sweater and jeans, Gumball. His brother who's an orange fish, Darwin. A glowing yellow fairy, Penny. A weird furry person with red, orange and cyan hide and sports headband, Tobias. A floating cloud with a face, Masami. A cute paper bear, Teri. Two dinosaurs that he already saw during first classes, a T-Rex named Tina, and a sauropod by the name Molly. A potted flower named Leslie. A living ghost, Carrie. A short robot, Bobert. He already met Sussie this morning as well as Ocho, the spider. A giant with varied colored hide named Hector that didn't attend school today. Juke, a person with a boombox for a head. A ball of red clay, mouth and eyes named Clayton. Colin and Felix, two walking eggs with glasses who were inseparable and by far the most intelligent students in fifth grade. And lastly, there was Jamie, a rough troglodyte with curved horns. She wasn't in the cafeteria as Sarah told him that she was again, in detention.

There was no possible way that he could remember all those names so suddenly, so Neal nodded along as Sarah pointed out each student in their class. She also talked about another student who misteriously stopped attending the classes, a male cyclops to be precise which Neal found highly intriguing.

After the lunch break, it seemed that everything fell into place. Neal attended classes, kept his temper from breaking out and when the bell would ring, he would either sit in the class and wait for another class to start, or go outside and seclude himself from others. He managed to drink his blue concoction before the final class of the day when he went to the bathroom, which looked like it will become his new hangout spot away from everyone, that or the library.

When the school ended, he opted out from taking the bus as he wasn't feeling like talking to anyone, and he wanted to get familiar with Elmore a little bit more.

After two hours of walking, he finally managed to get back to Alan's house. He had taken a wrong turn, which cost him a lot of time. Once he was back, he dove into the room and shut himself in. There still things he needed to do. He set to putting his clothes in the free wardrobe and finding a perfect spot under his new bed to hide the wooden box of his.

The afternoon was spent watching the TV with Alan's parents as Alan himself went to visit Carmen. Before leaving, he offered for Neal to come too, but he politely declined.

When evening rolled around, Neal was the first to finish dinner and retreat to bed. He didn't even wait for Alan, he wanted to end this long and confusing, not to mention surprise filled day. Before falling asleep, he checked the small vial of blue mixture. He was down to half the vial. Neal hoped against all odds that Elmore had the kind of herbs that he needed to create more of his concoction. It looked like he will need to do some research in the library tomorrow, but as of now, he hid the vial under his pillow and fell into restless slumber.

-End of chapter 2-


	3. Chapter 3

A loud buzzing from an electronic clock pulled Gumball out from a pleasant dream. He dreamt of cookies and milk! And now this device from hell signaled that it was time to get up and get ready for school. Gumball sat up in his bed and yawned while scratching his head. The clock showed 7:15pm.

He rubbed his eyes and jumped out of bed. Over at the nightstand, the glass fishbowl had bubbles rising from it. An orange fish, his brother Darwin, slept soundly in it. He was completely undisturbed by the ringing clock. Gumball shut off the clock and gently knocked on the bowl. "Darwin, wake up, it's time for school."

No response. He knocked again and repeated his brothers name a little louder. Nothing. Then a fun idea appeared in his mind. Gumball backed up a little from the nightstand and cleared his throat, then yelled, "DARWIN WAKE UP OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE!"

Darwin's eyes snapped open and he bolted from his bowl. Unfortunately, his leg caught on the bowl and he went down together with it, splashing water everywhere. He jumped up, and quickly looked around. There was no smoke or fire anywhere. "Huh… what?" He saw his brother snickering madly. "You liar! There is no fire!"

"Hahaha! Sorry dude, I couldn't help myself." Gumball patted Darwin's head apologetically and looked down on the carpet. "Yikes. Mom is going to be livid."

"Yeah. You made a mess!" Darwin responded with a frown. It was only morning and his brother already had managed to create chaos. Although, he was partially to blame too.

"Meh, it'll dry up before we get back." Gumball waved it off and went to brush his teeth in the bathroom.

However, he had to wait outside the door as it was already occupied. Gumball tapped his foot impatiently, nearly five minutes later, he banged on the door with his fist after losing his patience. "Oh come on! What's taking so long?!" However, the door simply opened up after the first hit. "Oh…". Either the door was closed really tightly or there was a poltergeist holding it shut from behind. Whichever one it was, Gumball shrugged and went inside. Or at least, he would've, if a small, pink blur didn't zip inside before he could set his foot in there. The door was shut right in front of his nose a moment later. "Hey, what gives!?" He shouted angrily.

"Sorry, Gumball! You snooze you lose!" Came a reply from behind the door. It was his sister's voice.

"Anais! Come on!" He whined pathetically.

When Darwin put on his green shoes and walked outside, he saw his brother angrily gritting teeth and glaring at the bathroom door. "What's wrong?"

"Anais! She- I! Whatever." Gumball gave up with a sigh. It was too early for this, besides, who cares if he didn't brush his teeth once. Or thrice. "I'm going to go get breakfast." He said, walking down the stairs into the living room.

"Wait, aren't you going to- Oh, he's gone." Darwin said to himself. Unlike his brother, Darwin planned on waiting patiently until he could use the bathroom. Having a bad fish breath was the worst, especially in school. Now that he thought about it, having any fish breath would be terrible. Good or bad.

Breakfast for Gumball would've been quiet for the first time in weeks. However, his father barrelled down the stairs as did his mother.

Nicole looked to be in great hurry, setting down bowls from the cupboards on the table at the speed of light. How the darn clock managed not to ring, it was beyond her and now she was going to be late for her work at rainbow factory. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" She repeatedly said. "Gumball, make sure to get to the bus on time. Richard, you have your chores for the day!"

"Yes I do, ma'am!" Richard saluted as he sat down on the other end of the table.

Nicole jabbed her finger at his chest with a serious look. "And make sure to actually do them this time! I'm serious." She said with a tone that left no room to argue. She then smiled and kissed his cheek. "Okay then, see you boys later!" Nicole said and rushed out the door.

"Ah! Mom! You forgot to…" Gumball shouted, but the door was slammed shut with her footsteps disappearing. "-prepare breakfast." He sighed.

"Don't worry son! I make breakfast for myself all the time!" Richard said and went into the kitchen. "I'll make something amazing!"

Later on, Darwin and Anais joined the breakfast, which was just a bunch of microwaved sausages with butter, mayo and ketchup. Lots of butter and mayo. Anais wondered how anyone could eat something with so much fat and not throw up on the spot. Yet there was their father, digging in like it was nothing but a simple dish.

After breakfast, the three kids bid their dad farewell and went to the bus stop. Waiting for the bus always proved to be boring. Since they were almost always the only ones there, the boredom made them do all sorts of things. Specifically, the two boys. Anais just sighed at their silliness. Darwin was busy with chasing a butterfly and Gumball began treating it as a race between the two, describing on the entire ordeal as an overly excited race commentator would.

The embarrassment finally ended when the bus came. Why they boarded the bus, the ride was somewhat silent for the two brothers.

Darwin decided to break the conformable silence with a question that gnawed at him since yesterday. "Hey, Gumball?" Darwin got his attention.

"What is it?"

"What do you think will happen today?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we always have these crazy adventures." Darwin began, his expression growing a little concerned. "And they keep getting more dangerous each time. We had ticked off Tina, nearly drowned, alligators nearly ate us, and even scary ghosts almost dragged us down to…you know, where the bad people go."

Gumball couldn't help but chuckle at his brother's worry. Sure, the adventures were dangerous, but also fun. And they helped a lot of people in the process. "Don't worry dude, you have me by your side, don't you? Besides, we have made so many people's lives brighter and had fun while doing so! And in the end, isn't that far more important?"

"...well, I do like helping people. But still, maybe we should cut back a little? Take it easy, you know. Try to avoid-"

Before Darwin could go on, Gumball silenced him by putting his hand over his mouth. "Shhh! It's the adventure that matters. Danger naturally comes with it. Besides, I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

"Awh, you two make me sick!" Gumball felt his head being patted. He looked up to see that it was Carrie. The goth ghost, who was also Darwin's girlfriend and Gumball's good friend.

"Oh yeah, how come?" Gumball asked.

"You are so squishy and mushy with your feelings that I can actually see rainbows radiating from both of you." She teased with a grin.

"I can't tell if you're joking, complementing, or teasing us." Gumball responded dryly. Sometimes he couldn't read her at all. Which was surprising, because you could literally see through her ghostly body.

"Hey, Carrie!" Darwin waved in a greeting with a cute smile. His previous worries immediately went away upon seeing his love.

Even if Carrie didn't have a physical heart, she still felt the same, sudden strike of warmth in her chest whenever she saw Darwin. And his smile, it took everything in her to keep her cheeks from turning beet red. "So I was wondering, would want to come over at my house tomorrow?"

Darwin nodded and grinned. An entire afternoon with just him and Carrie? There was no question about it, he was going to be there. "I would love to!"

"Alright, I'll see you at school then!" Carrie replied with giddy smile and floated back to her seat.

Gumball directed a scrutinising look on Darwin. "Hmm, I guess our plans for gaming afternoon are not happening then."

"What are you talking about, of course it's happening! Just, a little bit later, okay?" Darwin explained, hoping that his brother will understand. He has already rarely seen Carrie these days and he wanted to catch up with her.

Gumball rolled his eyes and shrugged. It's not like he could deny Darwin of seeing his girlfriend. Gumball himself went out on more dates with his girlfriend than his brother and Carrie. "Yeah sure, whatever."

The bus had reached it's destination and the students filed out. Classes went like usual. Miss Simian was a pain like always, torturing the entire class with a surprise test. Gumball glanced over his shoulder, Penny's seat was occupied by Idaho. The fairy had another class at the moment. If Darwin was going to be busy this afternoon with his girlfriend, he wanted to go out with Penny. He thought about going and visiting her directly after school, but her father was still not too fond of his future son in law. Although, that has never stopped him before.

Then there was another thing he wanted to do while the school was on. Get acquainted with the new student in their class. Then again, he already forgot his name when he heard it from Masami, plus, he dressed like a businessman and was probably a huge nerd. Gumball, not wanting to get his ears talked off by the new guy about D&D or something along the lines of science, decided to put it off until later date.

The class was interrupted by the speakers blaring out. They carried principals voice. "Good morning students, this is your principal speaking."

Miss Simian was immediately paying attention with a longing look. What could be so important that his dearest had to interrupt the class? Perhaps he was finally going to man up and propose? Oh how she hoped that it was the case.

"I wanted to remind you all to report to the gym after this class for a very important notice about the upcoming football game. That would be all."

Then again, one could only dream. With a sour look on her face, she returned her attention to the newspaper that she was reading.

"Doesn't our school always lose? What could be so important this about this one?" Whispered Anton to Banana Joe.

"Yeah, Richwood always beats us before we even make it to the finals." Tobias said quietly. Two years in a row their school was denied of victory and made a laughing stock on the Internet by Richwood students.

But the worst perpetrators were the Franklin high. Not once did they pass up the opportunity to laugh at Elmore Junior high for their loss. The Franklin's students went out of their way to humiliate Elmore high with each opportunity they got. On the street, on the Internet, the poor kids were laughed at and called by all sorts of nasty names. They even had been pushed around, pranked, had garbage thrown at them. It was because of that reason why most kids avoided walking to school on foot, or even going close to the northern end of Elmore, where Franklin High was located. They were afraid of encountering them.

After the bell had rung, all of the students made their way to the gym, teachers included. The gym bleachers filled up and everyone awaited for their principal to show up. A microphone was set in the middle of the gym, as well as some speakers.

Soon enough, principal Brown had shown up. He was covered from head to toe in brown hide, truly living up to his name. He also wore a paid glasses. When he reached the microphone, he cleared his throat and addressed the crowd. "Ahem, good mor-"

Of course, getting the attention of a gym full of kids was not easy. Nobody had heard him and the continuous chatting resumed between them.

"SILENCE!" Yelled the principal. A minute later, everyone had settled down and listened to what he had to say about the supposed football game. "Now, as you all know, every year, Elmore Junior high partakes in the American football championships between schools. And every year, we never make it to the finals."

"Its because of Richwood!" "Yeah! They're the worst!" Yelled some students and others agreed.

"Mhm, yes, quite. We have won the semi finals against Richwood." Principal said calmly.

There was a stretch of silence. The news were certainly surprising. If their school won the semi finals, that meant that they will be competing in the finale. The bleachers shaked as students went wild. Cheers and applause ringed out all around the gym.

Principal Brown smiled at their reaction. It was only natural that they would go crazy. "Alright, alright everyone. Settle down…" Even with the microphone amplifying his voice, it couldn't cut through the cheers. "SILENCE!" He yelled again. Two minutes later, when shouting and applause settled down, he spoke up again.

"The championship finale will take place at the Franklin High's football field, 6pm on Friday. Everyone is welcome to come and cheer for our school. Now, let's make sure to support our team so that our school could pull out a victory and become the champions!"

* * *

Neal didn't go to the gym on purpose. Without all the kids present, the library was devoid of people as everyone no doubt went to gym. Save for the old tree lady who was the librarian. Which proved to be a golden opportunity to do some research without rising any unnecessary thoughts or questions.

Neal had considered taking a swing from his potion to strengthen it's effect as it was slowly wearing off currently. However, with one quick and cautious look over the shoulder, he noticed security cameras at the corners of the library. Not only that, but he estimated that the vial would only last him until tomorrow early afternoon.

He redirected his attention to the computer monitor. He needed herbs to brew his mixture. With no knowledge of the local fauna, he had to resolve to checking out the Internet. Oh how the need to browse and check the latest cartoons allured him, however, he forced himself to stay on track. Nothing good ever comes from getting distracted from the goal. 'Elmore local fauna' was what he typed in the search bar.

The results that the search engine returned could be counted on the fingers. One particular result lead to a Wiki about various plants in Elmore. It was moderated by a person named . Neal swore he had heard the name from somewhere before. Quickly navigating through the wiki page, he found a neat list of all the plants. Few different plants could be used as key component in his potion. Cornflower Blooms, Dogwood bark or fruit, Hyacinth flowers, Oregon grapes. None of which showed up on the Wiki list.

Neal leaned back in his seat and tiredly rubbed his eyes under the glasses. Surely this couldn't be it? He was going to run out of the blue mixture and without it, no more dizziness. No more feeling like everything is fine and dandy. He tapped the computer mouse with his finger repeatedly, trying to make his sluggish mind work and come up with what to do. However, he was drawing blanks. Being under the potions effects had it's drawbacks. Lack of imagination and slow brain function was one of them.

"Mister Small might know something about plants." A voice soft as silk came from the right. Neal swore it belonged to an angel. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw a bear girl standing behind him. However, the most distinct feature about her, was that she was of paper, with a drawn on face and clothes. Two square ears, big eyes and an adorable muzzle. She was also by far the most cutest girl he had seen so far in this school. However, he had forgotten her name when Sarah was telling him the names of his classmates.

He glanced at his screen, then back at her. "Oh, Mister Small is…?" He drew on, not knowing who the person in question was.

"Our guidance counselor." She finished for him.

"Oh, thank you." Neal said. Since she started the conversation and looked like a genuinely sweet person, Neal decided to try and talk with her more. Or at least, attempt to. "You're my classmate, right? I'm Neal." He offered a handshake.

However, Teri took a step back with a slightly disturbed look on her face. "Yes. I'm Teri…"

Neal immediately glanced at his hand. Was there something on it? Upon closer inspection, he found nothing on it. Certainly no grime either. Then why did she back off like so? Then again, maybe for a girl who was a bear and made of paper, humans looked repulsive.

"Eeeh...you touched the keyboard." She said, thinking that he will understand what she meant by that. After not responding to her, Teri explained a little bit more. "You didn't know that keyboards have more germs on them than a toilet seat?"

Fear of germs, Neal concluded. It's always the cutest ones that were a little silly. Although, he was in no place to judge with his addiction to a calming substance.

Neal decided to play a smarty pants and mess with her a little. He glanced at the keyboard, then back at Teri with a small grin and a nod. "Yep, I've heard of that."

Teri put her hands on her hips and regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh yeah? How and when?"

"Just now. You told me." He winked with a sly grin. It looked like Teri wasn't impressed at all, choosing to continue to look at him weirdly. So much for joking around. Bad first impression. "Right." Neal dropped his playful expression. "Anyways, why are you concerning yourself with germs and stuff?"

"My mom is a doctor. I've seen what germs do to people and what sickness they cause." She replied to him with a small manner of pride in her voice. "So I try to avoid them as much as possible. In fact, one sec…" She took out a hand disinfectant and sprayed it on her palms.

'Silly' and 'little' was an understatement now. More like crazy. Neal scratched his head awkwardly. Ignoring her germ obsession and carrying on like nothings wrong seemed like the best course of action now. "So, why aren't you at the gym? Didn't the principal have something important to say?"

"I care little for football. Besides, I'm pretty sure it's really not that important." Teri replied after being done with disinfecting her hands for the ninth time this day. "Even though I'm part of the cheerleader team, still I think it's a filthy sport. All the sweat, dirt and mud. Yuck!"

"Ahaa…" Neal had a tough time with trying to carry on a conversation with her. It felt strange, normally, he had no problems with speaking to other people at all. "Good to know. So th-"

Teri had cut him off however. "Well, I should probably go. The coach will want our team to start getting ready for the upcoming game."

"Oh, right, okay. Its been nice to talk to you. Good luck with your practice!" Neal said with a smile which Teri returned with a polite wave.

"Thank you. Good luck with...whatever it is that you're doing here!" Teri replied and exited the library. She didn't like the new student one bit. He talked and behaved like any nice, normal person. He definitely didn't seem like a huge nerd that Masami made him out to be. Not that she cared in general. However, the cloudy look in his eyes was something she took notice of. Teri had seen quite a few patients in the hospital that she got admitted to -twice this week-. Neal possessed the very same look as those patients, as if he was under the influence of some sort of medicine. Pushing the bad impression away, she went towards the gym in search for her cheerleading team.

* * *

Neal had left the library and now was scouting the school for the guidance counselors office. It didn't look like it, but the school was definitely big.

"What a bore. Who cares about some football match." There was a pretty loud conversation happening ahead as a group of students walked down the hall. They most likely left the gym early.

Neal walked to the right to pass the group. All of a sudden, his back hit the locker. At first, Neal didn't understand what had happened. Then he heard small chuckles further away. His mind only caught up a minute later, he was pushed.

"Hey man, watch where you're going!" Came a voice from behind a group of weird looking students. A big, pink, plush Teddy bear with a white shirt and heart in the middle with a scary look on his face. A rat with a white hide, red eyes, scar on his cheek, standing on two legs and dressed much like Neal would, dark grey hoodie and washed out grey jeans. His eye twitched occasionally. And a big, disembodied hand with tattoos all over it. Truly an interesting group of individuals, who didn't look friendly at all. They were probably upperclassmen too, judging by their size.

Neal pushed himself up and dusted off his jacket with a sour expression. What jerks, he was watching where he was walking. He even moved out of the way. But they still shoved him. "I was watching! You just shoved me for no reason at all! That's not very nice." He said with a terse tone.

The students parted and from the middle stepped out a student that Neal hasn't seen before. A pretty tall and thin humanoid, his entire body was black and he had a bomb for a head. He dressed in an old fashioned style. White, two button shorts, big white shoes and white bow tie. "Think I care?" He said with a confident smirk and got all up in Neal's face.

"No…you don't look like you do." Neal responded and backed up a little with a scrunched nose. The bomb guy had a sharp smell of sulfur coming from his mouth. "Yeesh, ever heard of Tik Tak?"

Neal was grabbed his jacket and pulled eye to eye by the angered student. "What was that?" He growled menacingly.

This situation escalated really quickly. He hoped against all odds that it won't turn physical. Maybe jokes weren't the best thing to use in these types of situations. He wouldn't know. After all, violence was best solved with violence. "N-nothing, I was just… You know…" Neal stammered and gulped.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." The student sneered and showed Neal into the lockers again and went to rejoin his friends who were giggling at Neal's expense.

"What a punching bag." The rat said mockingly. Neal didn't respond and waited for them to leave before getting back up again. He watched them go with neutral expression, and once they disappeared over the corner, he took out the blue vial and took a swing from it.

"Julius, wanna go mess around outside?" The rat asked his friend.

But Julius didn't respond. He felt very irritated, not once did the pushover kid looked like he was intimidated by him. "Looks like we found ourselves some fun, boys." He said absentmindedly. A new source of entertainment had appeared to shorten the boring school time for them. Only second later, he replied to his friend's question. "Sure, let's go."

* * *

"Did you see that?" Masami said as the group of delinquents left Neal sitting on the ground. She and Leslie hid observed what was happening behind the corner.

"Yeah, what complete jerks." He said with a frown on his usually smiling face.

"No, he is a complete loser. He didn't even do anything!" Masami said.

"What do you expect him to do? There's five of them!" Leslie replied heathedly.

"Oh, nothing at all." Masami replied with a grin. Perhaps she could use this. About time someone showed up who was a complete tool.

* * *

After the unpleasant encounter, Neal had finally located the counselors office on the second floor of the school. He knocked on the door and second later, a voice called from the other end. "Come in!"

Neal stepped into the office. The room was simple, few metal cabinets, a writing desk. On the walls, some colourful posters were hanged. The counselor turned out to be an interesting looking person. Humanoid in nature, very tall, he looked more like a sheep or a walking could with all the puffy white hide. He wore black pants, open toe sandals and a very colourful shirt.

"Good morning, sir." Neal politely said and closed the door behind himself.

"Good morning to you too. Please, take a seat." Mister Small gestured at the chair near his desk with a pleasant smile.

Once Neal was seated the counselor addressed the new student. "So, what brings you to the counselors office? Problema with other students? Trouble keeping your cool? Stress of homework?"

Neal considered reporting the guy with a bomb for a head. However, he held back. It will probably tick him off even more, and he didn't want more problems with him. Pushing the little incident away, he cut to the point.

"Actually, neither. Mister Small, I have heard that you are knowledgeable in the local fauna?" And why wouldn't he be? The man painted the picture perfect image of a hippie, colourful clothes, the constantly mellow expression too. So Neal assumed that he had to have some manner knowledge about plants. Teri was correct after all.

"Mhm, I in fact am." He replied proudly.

"Oh that's just great! Could you perhaps tell me what sort of plants grow here?" Neal asked. Hopefully, he had more knowledge than he put in his wiki page.

This was certainly new. Not once Small was asked about such a subject. Usually, students came to him from the principal's office because they caused some trouble Most of the time, they were Gumball and Darwin. "Ahem. Right. There's Luc-

"No no no! I read it all in your page. I'd like to know if there are any others that you didn't mention in your wiki." Neal explained quickly.

Someone had read his wiki page! Mister Small smiled inwardly, his efforts weren't for naught. Someone else had shared his interest for nature and plants! Yet, the question was still strange. He chose to overlook it and carry on. "Well, there is only one that I left out. _Isatis tinctoria_, or Woads. But…"

"What?" Neal knew that he won't like the answer.

"Those only grow in doom forest." The counselor said with a serious look. "I didn't put them on the page just for that reason alone."

Surely the name was an exaggeration. And if it wasn't, though luck. He still needed those herbs no matter what. A trip to Doom forest it was. But only tomorrow. More research was in order. Just to make sure that the name was indeed an exaggeration.

"Alright. I see. Just out of curiosity, how do these Woads look?" Neal asked, hoping that he didn't raise any suspicion with such a question.

"Oh, they're these tall growing flowers, they have a bunch of small, yellow blooms growing on their stalks." Mister Small explained like an expert.

That's all Neal needed to hear. "Alright, well, thank you, sir. I'll be taking my leave then." He said and left the office.

"Stay out of the trouble and good luck studying!" Mister Small said on his way out.

* * *

After the principal Brown had concluded the message, most of the students had left the gym, except for Gumball. He wanted to ask Penny out. Getting down from the bleachers, he found her talking with her team and the coach. The cheerleading team was comprised of Penny, she was the head cheerleader. Then there were others, Masami, Carmen, Molly, Teri, Leslie and Sarah. Three of which were absent currently.

Gumball awaited for her to be done talking to the coach. Once their massive teacher lumbered off somewhere, Gumball took it as his cue to chat her up.

"Penny! Hey!" Gumball greeted her.

The fairy had turned around and greeted him. "Oh, hello Gumball." She said with a tired sigh.

"What's wrong?" Gumball asked with concern in his voice.

"The coach wants us to practice for much longer now, every day until Friday." She said pathetically. "'Everything's gotta be perfect for the big game, so don't mess this up!'" She said in mock voice of coach Russo.

Gumball laughed instantly at her charming display of silliness. "Hahaha! That's a spot on impersonation!"

"Thank you!" Penny replied with a little bit more energy.

Gumball didn't want to ask the obvious, but since he was already there, he might as well get it out of the way before the subject veers off the course. "So, we won't be able to hang out, or say, go on a date anytime soon?"

"I'm afraid not. By the time I'm done practicing, it will be getting dark already." Penny said with an apologetic look. She would've loved to go on a date with him, however, she was the head cheerleader. The coach stressed how important it was for them to put up a perfect performance in support for their football team. And it's not like she could drop out and abandon her team when they needed her.

On the other end, Gumball had already made up his mind. He inhaled deeply and prepared himself for the next words that he was going to deliver and stick to, no matter what. "I'll be there then! Everyday! I'll cheer you on during your practice until Friday! And you can bet that I'll be at championship too!" He said as enthusiastically as possible. Now way he would miss out on what would be a pretty big deal for Penny.

"Oh really now?" She asked with a small grin. Gumball was so sweet and considerate. Especially when she needed help and support. Sitting and observing her practice for hours on end will be extremely boring, yet there he was, willing to sacrifice his time and patience for her. Time that could be spent with his brother. Which worried her a little because last time his brother got quite jealous of them. "But, wouldn't you rather hang out with Darwin? Besides, don't you remember how jealous he got when we-?"

"Penny, Penny! That was some time ago! I'm sure he'll understand." Gumball reassured her with confidence. Besides, Darwin had Carrie to distract him from his lack of bro-friend.

"If he gets like that again, I will talk to him and explain everything like a mature, responsible and reasonable person that I am." He explained. And if that won't work, there was always plan B, ice cream and amusement park.

"Alright then." She walked up to Gumball and kissed his cheek out of gratitude, making the young cats cheeks turn slightly red. "Thanks Gumball, I'll see you during the practice." She said and ran off to rejoin her team.

Gumball just stood there, the spot on his cheek where she kissed him still felt tingly. He watched Penny leave the gym and only when the school bell had rung, did he realise that he missed the free period and was now late to class. More than that, Gumball wondered how he was going to tell Darwin that not only will they not be able to hang out tomorrow, but for almost the entire week. With all said and done, this was going to be one long and tiring week, but it was all for her and her alone.

-End of chapter 3-

_Not important message for the readers:_

_Hey boys and gurls. It's Evercry writing to you. I just wanted to let you guys know that these chapters come daily due to them being pre-written. Chapter 6 is going to be the last chapter that I had in storage(Sorta, currently typing it out). After that, I'll have to write again, which will slow down the update time. _

_Now on the more fun matters. Thank you all so much for supporting comments and your dedicated time in regards of reading this story of mine. I read every single comment and it warms my heart knowing that someone reads what comes out of my brain. I'm trying my hardest, and will continue trying my hardest to stay true to the characters no matter what. If I do start slipping, don't be nice about it, rip me a new one and keep me in place. _

_Also, in regards of the OC, I will try, no, I will do everything in my skill to make him be his own character and not just some Marry Sue that everyone in the story loves and adores_.

_Also, if you think this story will be sunshine and rainbows…well, it's rated _'_M' for a reason. But don't expect any lemons. I'm not that kind of writer. _

_With that said and done, thank you all for the support. I will see you all in chapter four! _


	4. Chapter 4

Another day, another piece of worthless information to put in his brain. That's what Neal always thought of school. The supposed education wasn't going to help him find a job, or learn how to pay the bills. However, it was necessary. His eyes were focused on the board as miss Simian explained a complex math problem. He was feeling numb in the brain, not because he emptied the entire vial in one go today -what was left of it-, but because math caused his brain to do so. Although, he needed to study whether he liked it or not, he couldn't afford to be held back yet another year, or worse, kicked out of this school too. Perfect behaviour and study, that's what Neal had to do right now. However, the effects of the potion always dimmed his thoughts and kept him from being able to focus. Even his notebook was full of unsolved math problems and scribbles.

Neal sat at his desk while leaning to the side so he could see past the massive T-rex that sat in front of him. He still kept his distance away from Tina at all times, fearing to even start a conversation in case she finds him as a delicious snack.

The minutes dragged on, and Neal's brain reached the melting point with the darn math class. Thankfully, next was chemistry. The bell had ringed and Neal exhaled tiredly. Finally, it was over. The hellish class was over. Packing his books and notes, Neal was just about to go to the next class when someone had called his name.

"Neal! Wait up!"

He stopped and looked around. This was rather unusual. Not once did anyone approach him to have a talk. Only one who did was Alan, but that was only out of necessity. He had managed to blend in and become boring, against his own, affected minds wishes. Then again, nobody talking to him was better in this situation, as he could focus more on his studies, but that's what his clear mind would say. He still wanted friends.

Neal walked past two eggs on legs and glasses, who just scoffed and whispered to each other, "Another one falls victim to the enchantress."

The one who called him over was Masami. Or at least, he thought that was the cloud girls name. "Yes, can I help you?" He asked politely.

Neal could've picked his words better, because Masami grinned for a split second and then immediately frowned with a sad look. "Yeah. I need some help. I can't move all these books by myself and my friend that usually helps me ran off." Masami explained with an obviously fake sadness in her voice. She did a good job at masking it however.

Neal glanced at her desk. There were quite a few books and notebooks, Masami didn't look like she had any hands either. Of course, Neal, being the self brainwashed pumpkin that he was, completely missed the fact that she had hands. She just didn't show them very often. Besides, he sat in the far back, so he couldn't see how she wrote either.

"Surely such a strapping gentleman like you could lend me a helping hand~" Masami spoke in a honeyed voice. Compliment, rope them in, and enjoy. If he takes the bait, her life will get so much more easier than it already is.

It was no problem for Neal to help her. If he did, perhaps he would have a new friend to chat with during school. However, Masami had no intention of befriending him in the first place. "Sure! No problem at all." Neal responded with a smile and took all her notes and books under one hand. "Shall we go?"

Masami nodded. Neal was first to go, followed by Masami who was grinning in satisfaction. It was much easier than she expected.

-After chemistry class-

"And put them in order." Masami said with half interest as she lazily floated besides her locker. She had employed Neal to tidy up her locker while ordering how and what from the side.

"Aha." He replied and did as told. Placing each book in an alphabetical order.

"Class order." She corrected herself. Neal had stopped moving all together, staring at something in the hallway. After a second he came out of his trance.

"I'm sorry, what are we doing?" He asked with a dumb smile.

"Ugh, can't you focus for two seconds? Masami replied hotly, her patience slipping a little in the process. Not only was he a tool, but an idiot too. Just great.

Neal gave her a questioning look. She quickly grinned and changed her attitude. "I mean, please focus and put them in a class order." She repeated sweetly. Neal nodded and resumed his work. And just as he was almost done too. Neal spent the next few minutes re-organising them in order that their classes are going to take.

In the time it took him to put them all correctly, Carmen and Molly had came up to Masami. "Hey, are you coming with us to the playground?" Asked Molly.

"Yeah. In a moment." Replied Masami and addressed Neal with the same honeyed tone. "Neal, after you're done here, can you bring me a soda?"

"A? Oh! Yeah, sure." He replied absentmindedly, thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. Man, was it difficult for him to focus at times. Although, this request he made sure to remember.

"Okay, great." Masami replied with little interest and floated off with her friends.

After Neal was done with organising her locker, he went to the soda machine, but stopped short when he remembered something. Masami didn't tell him where they went off to. Neal sighed pathetically, he should've asked her before she ran off.

-Much later-

Soda can in hand, Neal scouted pretty much the entire school for Masami. To no result. He of course couldn't just ditch her request, that wouldn't be nice at all. He was walking through the empty hall, aiming to get to the playground, however, he heard many different footsteps from behind, quickly closing in on him. He paid them no mind, unfortunately, when they were just behind him, he was grabbed by the collar of his school jacket. The hand that grabbed him was in a pretty big, very familiar glove.

It was the same, classically dressed stick figure with a bomb for his head. His friends, the mouse, a teddy bear and a disembodied hand were right besides him too.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" The bomb guy asked with the same smirk that he constantly wore.

Julius and his pal's were quite bored today and as luck would have it, they ran into the most pathetic guy in school. They were going to seek him out regardless, so this run in just saved them time. But, the glasses wearing student didn't respond to his question, he just stared blankly at him. "Didn't you hear what I asked?"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realise I had to-" Without a saying anything, Julius pushed Neal. He ended up bumping in the plush bear, who showed him back in the middle. "Okay….that was unnecessary." Neal mumbled. Honestly, he had no idea why they were picking on him. It's not like he did something bad to them.

Asserting the dominance and showing who's the boss was one of the many things that Julius and his friends liked to do, asides from few other actives. And Neal was the perfect target for that. No claws or fangs, thin and short, probably can't even see far without his glasses. Just the kind of person they usually go for when bored.

Scythe, the rat kid, suddenly swiped the can of soda from Neal, who was too slow to respond quickly enough. "I was actually bringing it to-"

"Yeah? Well it's mine now." Julius said with a big smirk.

"But I-" Scythe began, but was silenced by Julius glaring at him and taking the soda from his hands.

"Oh, well okay then. I'll just go get another." Neal simply responded and was just about to leave when the bear, Mowdown, got in his way and growled, "Don't even think about it."

"Alright." Neal replied simply. Completely surrounded by rowdy, rude guys who want nothing more than to mess around. He needed a way out. "Uhm…but I have to go. I have to meet my classmate-"

"Have to what, huh?" Julius asked with a step forward, making Neal back up a little.

"You know, g-go outside and…"

Julius didn't want to hear anything. Neal was so stupid that he didn't understand that it was a mock question. Thinking of how to mess with Neal more, he all of a sudden took Neal's glasses off. "How do you even see in these?" Julius asked with a laugh and tried them on. Everything was blurred for him. The other guys laughed at how ridiculous they looked on Julius, and by extension, Neal.

"H-hey, give it back, man!" Neal said worriedly. Without those glasses, he wouldn't be able to see far at all. He could see for a good distance still, but not so well. He tried taking them back, but Julius just took them off and extended his hand upwards, where Neal couldn't reach.

"You want em back?" Julius asked as the cackling at Neal's pathetic attempts to reclaim them continued.

"Yes! Dude, come on!" Neal reached out to grab them, however, he was a good half a foot short.

"Here, go fetch!" Julius turned around and chucked then across the hallway.

Neal immediately ran after them, leaving behind a group of jerks who were laughing out loud. With their boisterous laughter disappearing behind him, Neal slid to a stop. Thankfully, his glasses landed near the wall. The hallway was empty at this time during recess, so there was no danger of someone stepping on them. He picked them off the ground and carefully dusted them off. Neal inspected the lenses, no scratches or cracks. Lucky.

Neal put the glasses back on and exhaled tiredly. What a nasty day this was turning out to be. Ignoring the laughter of Julius's group, Neal went downstairs to grab another can of soda and find Masami.

-Much later-

"Didn't you know? This is the time we shine! We will finally shut everyone up about our constant losing streak. Plus, we will finally have something to rub it into Franklin guy's faces!" Tobias said excitedly to his friends, Clayton and Juke. The discussion was about the upcoming football game on Friday, which seemed to slowly overtake the school.

"But what if we lose again?" Asked Clayton with a worried look. "Then those Franklin freaks will never let us live it down."

Juke nodded in agreement, since once again, he was incapable of human speech.

"Don't worry, this time, we made it to the finals!"

Their conversation was cut short when Neal squeezed past them. "Excuse me!" He hurried down the playground, soon the bell was going to ring and he only now found Masami.

She was hovering near the teal table at far corner of the playground, chatting with her friends, Molly, Carmen and Penny.

The girls fell silent when Neal timidly approached them and cleared his throat. "Ahem, here's the soda you asked for." He set it on the table besides Masami.

"Ugh, what took you so long? Doesn't matter, after school, come to the library, I have some homework assignments to do and I'll need your help."

"But I-"

"Please~?" Masami asked while batting her eyelashes. Who could resist when asked so nicely? Certainly not this little tool of convenience.

It wouldn't be nice of Neal to refuse her request, so he just nodded in response. Besides, he could go for a little interaction, he was beginning to get a little lonely. The trip to Doom forest could wait an hour or two. "Well…okay then…" Neal finally responded, feeling a little bit unsure at first.

"Okay, you can go now." Masami said as if losing all interest in him, returning her attention back to her friends.

"Well then. Ladies." Neal excused himself and went to find a quiet spot where he could do his own homework first.

The shining fairy glanced at Masami with a disapproving look. "You know, it's not nice of you to use him like that." She said in a berating tone. Penny didn't know much about her classmate, but he seemed like a very nice person. Complying and helping like that, not many would do that out of free will.

"Yeah." Carmen agreed. "When you take advantage of nice people, that's just a nasty way of living." Carmen said with frown at Masami.

"Oh please, he can stop whenever he likes." Masami replied, playing the innocent one. It wasn't her fault that Neal was naive to the bone. That or plain stupid.

"I don't think he knows that you're using him like that." Penny added. She didn't want to get involved, or argue with her teammate, especially at such a crucial time when the big game is coming and practice was all that mattered.

"Like I said. He can stop whenever he likes." Masami responded with a dissatisfied huff. It's not her fault that her friends didn't see how much easier it was if someone just does things for you. Penny could stand to benefit from such a thing too since Gumball was like her lovestruck pet. Masami inwardly frowned at the opportunities that her friend missed out on.

-After school-

Neal felt sore in the brain. Not only did he had to do his own homework during all the recess, but also do Masami's homework after school. She didn't even tell him what to write, she just floated at the desk and read some book. And Neal had to turn each page for her, all the while doing all her work on the other side. He was beginning to get suspicious that some manner of fraud was involved here. However, his 'friend' needed the help and it didn't look like anyone was going to in his place. Unfortunately, he didn't even get to know her that well, due to the fact that most of the time, she paid more attention to the book that she was reading rather than Neal's attempt to start a conversation.

As of right now, he was standing at the bus stop, waiting for a ride home. After that, change of clothes, grab a backpack, and journey to the Doom forest. Hopefully, his head will clear out before that, because from the research that he did yesterday, Doom forest didn't have the word "Doom" in it for nothing.

There were two more students waiting at the bus stop, Darwin and Carrie. And they seemed to be in a lively conversation.

"Whatcha wanna do once we get there?" Darwin asked his ghostly girlfriend with a cutesy smile.

Carrie shrugged in response. "I don't know. Just hang out I guess. Oh, I have this really cool thing to show you that appeared in my backyard yesterday!"

"Really? What is it?" Darwin asked with childish wonder. A unicorn? A fluffy marshmallow? Two puppies hugging each other?

"I'm not going to spoil the surprise!" Carrie responded with a smile at his excited look. "By the way. Doesn't Gumball know that school is out? Why isn't he here with you?" Normally the two siblings were always together. She expected that Gumball would be here to at least tag along until their stop.

"Well, he's at the stadium, cheering Penny on." Darwin responded. Yesterday Gumball had told him that he will stay in the stadium till Penny is done with her practice, right up until Friday. That put a small damper on his mood, but alas, he couldn't hog Gumball all to himself anymore.

"Right. The practice. Will you go to the game this Friday?" Carrie asked. Maybe they could go together, a date of sorts. Then again, there were many other, better places to go on a date than a sports game.

"Yeah." Darwin confirmed. He told his mom and dad about it yesterday and they said they will drive them to the stadium. Or at the very least, try to. Besides, this will be a perfect time to introduce Carrie to his parents. "Wanna go together?"

"Sure." Carrie brightened up with a beaming smile. "I'll bring some rotten tomatoes that we could chuck at the players that suck." She added with a little evil laugh.

Even though Darwin found her most charming, Carrie did tend to get a little carried away with her fun. Destructive and menacing fun. "Ughm…I don't think my mom would like that." He explained in hopes that she'll understand. Darwin didn't want his mother to see how Carrie sometimes entertained herself and thus draw her impressions from that.

"Oh, right." Carrie said while keeping herself from sighing. And here she thought it will be just the two of them.

Neal wasn't eavesdropping on their conversation, but they were talking quite loud. What game? Did he miss something in the past few days?

* * *

Soon enough, the bus had arrived. After quite a bit of time, the two lovebirds found themselves by Carrie's house. Which looked like a building straight out of a horror movie, not that Darwin cared that much. The two were in the backyard, next to some withering, naked trees.

Carrie was busy with taking something out from underneath the roots of one such tree. And while Darwin was silently trying to put some distance between himself at the dead forest that looked like it will grab him any moment, Carrie had taken out a small, cardboard box from underneath the tree.

Darwin cautiously approached Carrie. "Check it out!" She said while setting the box on the ground and removing the cardboard lid.

"BOOOO!" Came a loud yell from the box.

Darwin screeched like a girl and jumped into Carrie's arms. "What is THAT!?"

Carrie giggled at his dramatic reaction and patted his head in comfort. "Relax you scaredy cat."

In the box, there was a medallion of sorts. It looked like it was made of metal. A round, gray coin with no writing or numbers on it. With a simple leather string acting as a necklace. Completely boring looking, but what made it stand out, was the voice coming from it. "Release me, you wrench! I must return to my-"

"That thing is hilarious. It thought me curse words I didn't knew before." She explained joyfully. "Ughm…you can get off now." Carrie said quietly, her cheeks turning light shade of pink.

"Are you sure it won't bite me?" Darwin asked. The medallion was screaming like crazy, demanding to be released.

"It's a piece of metal, silly. It won't." Carrie responded with a chuckle. "Although, it is most definitely possessed, so don't touch it." She added a little bit more seriously. She didn't really know if it was possessed, although it did look like it. More research was in order.

"Right." Darwin hopped on the ground and cautiously approached the box out of curiosity. The pendant was very silent during their conversation, too silent. Carrie had the cardboard lid ready, just in case.

"What's his name?" Darwin asked, unsure if it could even be considered as a pet.

"I named it after Grakath, the supreme overlord of the underworld." She relied simply.

Now that Darwin got a better look at it, it didn't seem to be so threatening like he initially thought. Heck, the medallion looked like something would wear. Dull, boring and ecologically friendly. Probably.

The medallion certainly didn't ignore the studying look that Darwin was giving him. It was going to give him a piece of its mind. "What are you looking at, you deep fried motherfu-" The cardboard lid was slammed shut by Carrie instantaneously. Only a muffled voice was heard from the inside.

Her precious little fish must be protected. Especially from one such foul mouth. "Ahahaa...I think that's enough of that." She said awkwardly.

"What was he going to say?" Darwin asked with an innocent look, making Carrie embarrassed to even thinking about revealing it.

"You know what, let's go play video games and forget about the talking talisman!" She announced and threw the cardboard box underneath the tree again. Which earned another loud shout from the pedant.

The backyard was beginning to slowly creep him out, so Darwin quickly took her up on her offer. "Oh! Okay!" On their way to Carrie's house, Darwin asked her, "By the way, why aren't you keeping it in your room? Why out here, with all the scary looking trees around?"

"I couldn't keep it inside the house because it makes too much noise." She explained. Grakath did make a lot of noise. Mostly just nonsense about his guardian coming to get him back. Which Carrie thought was bunch of baloney. He didn't even have a GPS attached to it, or a return address.

Some minutes later, the two were on her bed and playing the newest installment of Zelmore. Darwin was quite happy that him and Carrie had at least few things in common, like love for games. And cute things! At least, he hoped that she did. Perhaps she preferred more muscular guys. Perfect! He got defeated by a monster in the game. With all the unnecessary contemplating, he just wasted their time.

"Sorry about that." Darwin mumbled out quickly and began making up for his mistake by taking out more monsters.

"It's cool." Carrie blurted and helped Darwin by demolishing anything that tried to impair his progress.

Darwin had to admit, she was good. Outstanding even. The way Carrie took care of all the enemies was super quick and effective. So much so that he struggled to keep up. "Wow. You're good!"

"Thank you. You're so slow despite having perfectly functioning legs." She jokingly said with a challenging grin.

"Oh is that so? Watch this!" Darwin said and returned his focus on the game, this time, trying to out-perform his girlfriend.

The two kids entered into a friendly competition to see who would rake up more slain monsters. Carrie was winning by a large margin. So much so that it made her laugh out loud and lose focus at times. She left Darwin in the dust, who was breaking a sweat just by trying to keep up. How Carrie could click the buttons so fast, it was beyond him.

Darwin tried his hardest, but to no avail. He was getting out matched. When the victory screen flashed, Carrie was in the number one spot. She dropped her controller, fell on the bed backwards and cackled madly. This was by far the easiest victory yet.

Darwin exhaled tiredly and leaned back to fall besides her. He stared at the ceiling of the room while resting his tired and sore hands. "Wow. How did you do it?"

Carrie rolled on her stomach and propped herself up on her elbow. "Mmh, I don't know. I guess I have the talent."

"Two out of three?" Darwin suggested with renewed fighting spirit.

"You're on!" Carrie replied with a confident smirk. Only now she noticed that her controller was dropped. "Hold on c'mere you."

Carrie went down on the floor to take the game controller from underneath the bed. It was right under Darwin's seat. He even had to lift his legs and let her pass.

Something about this particular situation made his heart roll like a heavy drum. His face turned beet red and he subconsciously scooted further away. This was the first time he had a reaction like this and it spooked him quite a bit. He of course kept his mouth shut about it.

After Carrie had retrieved her controller, the two kids continued gaming. But the longer they played, the harder it became for Darwin to stay focused. He chucked it up to the loads of homework that Miss Simian kept throwing at them. That and him and Gumball not being able to do things together for the next few days until after Friday. But that didn't matter. He glanced at the cute, giggling ghost besides him and his worries vanished. Everything will be alright. He and Gumball could hang out during school, plus, he had Carrie with him.

With the childish worry gone, all of a sudden, Darwin placed a chaste kiss at the corner of Carrie's lips. The ghost girl nearly dropped her controller out of sheer surprise. She looked at Darwin with cheeks ablaze and a beating heart. "W-what was t-that for!?" She asked out of embarrassment for getting caught by surprise.

"Oh, nothing~" Darwin replied with a whimsical tune in his voice. The TV screen flashed and showed the word 'Victory' on the screen. Darwin took his first point and now they were tied. And while Carrie pouted and quietly mumbled how unfair the distraction was, Darwin giggled happily upon finally being victorious. Yep, everything was turning out to be way better than he thought.

* * *

Neal exhaled through his nose. He was getting restless in his bus seat. It's been about half an hour since he went back to Alan's, switched out his clothes, grabbed a backpack, and boarded a bus that will pass the Doom forest. Thankfully, Ms's and Mr's Kenae were out and working during his return and Alan wasn't home either. Which was good, he avoided unnecessary questions as to where he was going. Instead of his usual blue school jacket and grey jeans, he now wore a green, long sleeved shirt, loose sports pants and old, grey sneakers. A get up which was perfect for running, which he was sure he will do a lot of.

The calming potion effects have long since cleared out and all that was left was a restless mind that screamed at him to use common sense and logic to stay the hell away from the forest. But alas, he needed those herbs for his potion. Throwing all common sense out the window for this task, Neal decided to be extra cautious. The things he read about the Doom forest, they weren't for the faint of heart. Monsters, demonic chanting in the depths of forest, lost people, savage animals, man eating plants. It housed all the horrors that he assumed were fictional before. But perhaps they were fictional?

The bus had stopped quite some distance away from Elmore and upon exit, Neal found himself in an open, grassy field. Further across the road, there was his destination. Doom forest. It looked like every other forest that he had seen in his life. Normal.

Neal crossed the road and entered the forest. At first glance, everything seemed normal. Although he didn't drop his guard for a moment. Getting caught by surprise wasn't something he was willing to do. The deeper he went in search for the herbs, the darker the forest became. Neal suddenly stopped short when he heard some strange sound. He whirled around, fists clenched and legs bent, ready to sprint at any moment. But the source of the sound came from two owls sitting on top of a tree branch.

"Oh… Wow." Owls with one, big eye in the middle of their body. Absolutely morbid. Neal was getting freaked already as he backed up a few steps and continued on his way. They were definitely strange. This town was strange.

Further and further into the forest he traversed. He kept a close eye and ear on his surroundings, not only in search of the herb, Moad, but incase he encounters something bigger than two, malformed birds. The scenery in front of him kept changing drastically. The sunlight became dimmed between the thick branches of the tall trees. Everything began taking on a darker tone. Neal, with each taken step, became increasingly more worried. Perhaps this was a bad idea. No! He needed Moads for the potion. His need to be calm, happy and non-aggressive came first. Besides, those owl's were the only thing out of the ordinary. Perhaps the name was an exaggeration. He smiled to himself. The Internet and the locals really were making those stories up to scare-

*Crack!*

A snap of a twig. That's all it took for Neal to drop into a defensive stance.

From the bushes, few feet away from him, stepped out a creature. A tall humanoid, bigger than him, yet thin and quite horrific looking with purple skin. It had long fingers and long, deer like legs. Four long slits lined on its face, with what looked like tears flowing from them. No visible eyes, ears or nose. Not even a mouth.

"Okay then..." Neal said quietly to himself. His heart picked up a faster beat. What an idiot he was for thinking that the monsters weren't real. He attended the school with dinosaurs and walking jukeboxes! Of course there had to be monsters. The monster that stood in front of him, although crying, didn't look too friendly like his classmates.

But without eyes and ears, perhaps the monster didn't see him? Without doing any sudden movements, Neal slowly stepped to the right, and the monster mirrored his action. Now he was getting spooked. So it could somehow see or sense him. Neal took a step back as a test more than anything and the monster responded with a step forward.

Now he understood what was happening. The tears coming from the long slits on its face, weren't tears. It was saliva. The monstrosity was hungry and Neal was on its menu.

He considered making a run for it, but with those long, deer like legs, it would probably catch him really quickly. And even if he did run for it and escape, Neal would get out empty handed, which he didn't want to at all. He wanted, no, he needed those herbs.

This would be his first time ever facing something inhuman. Usually, his opponents were aggressive, overgrown school bullies.

With a thundering heart, Neal hunched his back and held his arms loose on both sides. A snarl crept on his face as he prepared to meet the monster head on with all of his gathered courage. "Fine. Come get some." He sneered threateningly.

The purple abomination dashed at him. Neal stood his ground and didn't move. Once it got close enough, Neal quickly impaired it's movement with a swift shin strike to the side of its knee. The monster screeched in pain, all slits on its face opening like mouths with rows of needle like teeth. With its center of gravity altered, the monster stumbled to the right a little, but still lunged forward. It attempted to grab him with intent of strangling the air out of Neal, who ducked underneath its arms. With a spring movement, Neal straightened out his back while bringing his fist from below. The uppercut snapped the monsters head back with the sound of a cracking whip. It toppled over and fell on its back, losing consciousness from the impact.

Neal held his breath for a second, ready to move incase of a surprise attack. He kept an intense look on it, searching for any signs of movement. Only the monsters chest was rising up and down. Thankfully it got knocked out. Neal didn't want to know what would've happened had it caught him slipping on that dodge.

Not a moment later, he heard heavy footsteps coming closer from behind a row of trees. Just great. This entire trip was turning out to be a non-stop nightmare that refused to give him a break.

Neal took cover behind a fallen tree and stayed perfectly still while peeking from the side to see just what will enter the area.

And enter it did. A massive, eight foot in height and length pig. It lumbered on all four of its muscular legs. It had dark, sapphire scales, which were decorated by scratches and healed scars of battles won against other monsters. Two, tiny, black beady eyes were focused on the downed monster. A row of fangs at the bottom of its jaw pointed forward like blades. Upper jaw had jagged, straight teeth, same length as it's bottom jaw fangs.

Neal didn't move a muscle, or even breathed normally, least the hulking monster would hear or smell him. This forest was infested with nightmare fuel and his dumb butt ended up in the middle of it. But from the looks of it, the monster didn't have any nose, or ears, much like the previous one. Only eyes. So how did it found its prey?

Neal wasn't stupid, he knew that trying to face off against this monster would lead him to certain doom. Those scars indicated that it survived some horrifying battles. So while the green pig was nudging the body of the purple, unconscious humanoid, Neal adjusted his position silently to start sneaking away.

Almost immediately, he heard twigs snapping and the ground shaking as the lumbering creature suddenly charged at him. How in the world did it learn of his position? More so than that, what did he do to deserve this roller-coaster of hell?

Neal kicked off the ground, rolling over the fallen tree and throwing himself to the right, thus confusing the charging pig monster, who slammed its body into the wood.

Neal rolled to a stop and sprinted through the thickening forestry. Shielding his face with one hand, he barrelled through the low hanging branches and bushes without stopping to look back. Common sense told him that the pig demon was most likely giving chase after him at this very moment.

Neal stopped his mad dash with a stomp to the ground, making him slide on the foliage for two feet. He pushed off of the tree in front of himself and suddenly switched directions to throw off his pursuer. A green blur bulldozed the tree that he was close not a second later.

Neal was right. It was chasing him. He hated being right. And from the looks of it, it was five, if not ten times faster than him. But at the same time, the monster couldn't stop or switch directions quickly enough. Which could be taken advantage of.

Neal began running in zig zags. Ducking and weaving between trees like he was dribbling a soccer ball. And the demonic pig of hell was right on his heels, being slowed down only by the trees that it crashed through like brittle ice.

All of a sudden, the solid ground beneath Neal's feet was gone. Panic, fear, sense of impending doom. All had washed over him as in the single second, he thought that this was it. Neal feel. Straight on his chest. The fall turned out to be only one tenth of what he expected. The fall, although surprising, didn't stop his brain from functioning. Neal rolled to the left, just as the green blur flew from the back and came sliding across a pretty wide clearing in the forest.

He glanced back, he had fallen of a small ledge and entered into a clearing. He hastily looked around, considering his options. Running back into the forest would yield the same results, and his stamina was very limited. He couldn't keep running forever.

At the end of the clearing, to the right, he noticed a pretty deep ravine. Small in diameter, barely visible over the wall of growing trees, but perhaps it would be his salvation if he plays his cards right.

While the monstrosity was getting its bearings on the sudden change of scenery, Neal got in position. He stood in front of a row of trees that blocked off the sight of the ravine and called out to the monster. "Pork chops! Over here!"

The pig monster suddenly stopped moving and slowly turned around to look at Neal with absolute scorn in its tiny eyes.

Good. It was staring at him like a bull that was about to attack. A pissed grimace morphed Neal's face, his confidence rising tenfold. Now, he was in control of the situation. "Yeah, I'm gonna call you Francis. What's wrong, Francis? Little too fat to catch your prey, Francis?" He put heavy emphasis on the name, throwing it like an insult at the creature.

The monster understood his mockery. It most certainly did as evidenced by a massive roar that it gave out of pure rage. It looked like it was intelligent enough to understand him, but not enough to see that Neal was leading it into a trap. His taunting did its purpose.

"Let's see if those scars are just decorations." Neal grinned with absolutely aggressive confidence and directed a challenging stare right at its eyes. "Come, fatty."

The pig demon took off. The ground shook with from the weight of its charge.

Neal waited, never blinking, not breathing. Waiting for the opportunity to move. Once the monster came close enough, Neal took a nose dive to the left and the demonic spawn crashed through the tree line. He heard a heavy slam coming from the ravine. However, he wasn't going to stick around and wait until the monster found its way out of the hole. He guessed that it was still alive and very well. Such a small fall couldn't end a creature like that.

With the monster stuck in the hole, Neal ran out of the clearing. He set to putting as much distance between himself and the clearing as possible. By the time he stopped running, he was absolutely out of breath. His back slid down the tree that he used as support and plopped on the ground.

"What sort of hell is this…" He panted out to himself with nothing but tired anger. Monsters all around him. At every corner. In school, in street's and even across the room, occupying a neighbouring bed. He hated this forest, he hated this town. He felt alone, with not a single human in sight. Which was probably for the best. He disliked people with their general stupidity and behaviour. And from what he saw in the past few days, the people here were just as bad.

Having had enough rest, Neal pushed himself up and dragged himself in search of the Moads again.

He managed to find and entire area filled with the flowery plant. Filling his backpack to the brim, he managed to crack out a small, forced smile, at least he managed to accomplish this without failure. The smile immediately turned into a frown. He will need to journey here again, because those gathered herbs will only last him two days. Neal exhaled through his nose and made a mental note to always avoid physical confrontations with the monstrosities of this forest.

One false move today and he might not have seen the light of tomorrow. The scary thought alone made him feel weak in the knees. With his mission accomplished, Neal turned around and quietly made his way out of the forest.

Unbeknownst to Neal, a pair of sickly, glowing jade eyes had observed his exit. The eyes, they peered into his most recent memories. The human boy, he had seen the thief.

* * *

Even after the school is out, downtown of Elmore was quiet. Neal was lazily walking on the sidewalk. His legs felt sore, not only from the brutal workout that he got from his journey, but from the walk that he had to do after leaving the bus stop. It had dropped him off halfway across the downtown area. Bottom line, he hated walking while already being so tired.

Up ahead, he noticed a bunch of people on the other side of the road. The closer he got, the more details he could see. Nearly all of the tall people wore rose red shirts. One of them had the letters 'Franklin #1!'.

Rumor has it that the Franklin students weren't the friendliest bunch of kids. And now he saw why. Across the street, they had surrounded two of his classmates, Anton and Juke. He didn't hear what was being said, but he could see that it was physical. They were showing and making fun of them.

Neal scoffed at the sight. Absolutely disgusting. Five versus two. All were tall, humanoid in nature, and well built. There was no way that the two little kids could break out of the ridicule on their own. Both of them were already cowering and shaking like leaves, being easily intimidated by the bigger, stronger students.

This wasn't related to him at all. Sure, Neal was their classmate, but he was by no means a hero. Stepping in and starting a fight, potentially getting harmed too and causing bigger trouble to befall the two kids, it wasn't something he was willing to do. It was for the best to just keep walking and avoid being seen. Besides, he was already tired and not in the mood for any sort of contact. Also, not the one being pushed around.

So he turned on his heel and went to find a different route that will lead him back to Alan's house.

After a little bit of searching, he had located his home. With the herbs in his possession, all that was left was to nail a perfect opportunity when no one is looking to brew his potion. Once he entered the house, the green ball of constant happiness was all up in his face.

"Hello, roommate!" Alan greeted him with a big smile. "Where have you been?" He asked him out of curiosity. Usually after school, Neal would be the first one back, more so than that, he avoided going outside as much as possible. But now it seemed there was a change in his routine.

"Yo." Neal responded with barely any energy and untied his shoes. "I was out, walking around." He explained half heartedly.

Alan floated a little closer to him with a concerned expression. "You look exhausted. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I went to check out Elmore a little bit more to get familiar with my surroundings." He lied effortlessly while taking off his shoes. There it was, unnecessary questions. He already wanted to shut himself away from his 'roommate'.

"Oh, perhaps you went to the park?" Alan asked. The Elmore park was a wonderful, bright place ful of people who would go there to relax and have a nice day.

"Yeah. It's delightful." Neal said with heavy emphasis on the last word. He finally took off his shoes, arranged them perfectly and made his way towards the stairs.

Alan smiled. If Neal enjoyed going there alone, then maybe he would like some company tomorrow. After all, being together with friends was the most fun you could ever have. "Oh, well, perhaps you, me and C-"

"No." Neal cut in with a dry and terse reply. He didn't want to see or hear from anyone else today. He had enough interaction, he was turned into a slave due to his affected mind, being pushed around by a group of idiots and not being able to fight back, doing twice the amount of homework and the trip. Plan of action for the rest of the day, stay in the room, wait till everyone's asleep, brew the potion.

With his offer shot down so mercilessly, Alan quietly watched how Neal ascended the stairs. He grew increasingly more concerned. Ever since coming here, Neal was smiling and cheerful. Always nice and chatty. And although he stayed in the room most of the time, he already felt like part of the family. But now, just by taking a quick glance, one could tell that he acted like a completely different person.

"Give him time." Alan said to himself. "He's still adjusting."

-End of chapter 4-


	5. Chapter 5

Lively chatter of students and clattering trays of food filled the schools cafeteria. A lunch break! The perfect time for students to hang out with their friends and talk about all manner of things while enjoying a hot, slimy, yellow broth that the school's chef/bus driver/janitor Rocky dared to call 'Pudding'.

Neal, with all of his experience in eating less than healthy food back home, had no problem with the schools food. But he saw that some students outright avoided eating it and rather just talked to one and other. "Huh…it doesn't taste so bad, right?" He smiled to the seat next to him. It was empty. He exhaled patiently. Right, still no permanent friends, he only had what his cleared up head would call 'acquaintances'. But now was the perfect time to change it. Neal looked around the cafeteria, there was Sarah, sitting and reading what could only be a 'manga'. Then there were the two highly distinct brothers, Gumball and Darwin, whom he hadn't even exchanged formal greetings with, not even once.

The glowing, floating fairy, Penny. He supposed she would be nice to talk to. She seemed calm, although, looked really exhausted. And she had two other girls with her who were in the same shape as her. Neal decided to cut her group from the options. Bothering them wouldn't be nice at all, considering how tired they looked.

Then, there was Ocho, Clayton and Tobias. They looked like the exactly kind of people who would be fun to talk to. They were cracking all kinds of silly, childish jokes and laughing obnoxiously loud. Perfect!

Neal took his tray of food and approached their table at the further back of the cafeteria. He set it down a little louder than he would've liked, catching the trio's attention, thus ensuing silence from them. "Hey guys, what's up?" He asked with a welcoming smile.

"Aaah...nothing. We're just, chatting, you know." Clayton responded with a little awkwardness in his voice.

Ocho narrowed his eyes at their new arrival who so rudely butted into their talk. "Oh great! What do you want?" Ocho asked with his flaring temper.

"I ugh…nothing. Just wanted to talk." Neal responded slowly. It seemed that Ocho had somewhat of a problem with him. At first, in the hallway during his first day here, now this.

"Well, we don't want to talk boring lawyers." Ocho responded hotly, promoting Neal to raise his eyebrows in question. Ocho took his tray of food and floated to different table.

"Sorry Neal." Clayton said when two hands formed from his body. He took his tray and left too.

"Smell ya later, bro." Tobias waved goodbye and went to join with his pals.

Neal was left sitting there alone to contemplate where he had gone wrong. Was his approach wrong? Was it something he said previously? Perhaps the way he dressed? No, that shouldn't even be a deciding factor. He sighed, this one encounter was enough to tell him that he should stop trying now. They didn't want to interact, so why should he? With that in mind, studying and getting the heck out of this, this hole teeming with monsters became his priority. And he perhaps should start working on kicking his potion use to heighten his senses and focus to amplify his studying speed.

* * *

Right across the cafeteria, a particularly bunch of students were arguing amongst themselves evilly. Julius and his gang had been discussing about the Franklin students, whom had thrown insults at them across the street, but didn't dare to come closer and settle it with fists. What with tensions running higher and higher between two rival schools due to the football game on Friday, both the social media and the street's have become more dangerous for everyone. Mostly, for Elmore junior high.

They quickly grew bored of slamming them with words for their own self gratification. It wasn't satisfying if those cowards weren't here to hear Julius and his friends roast them. Besides, the nasty, barely sweet substance of the supposed 'Pudding' put an even bigger damper on their mood.

Julius stretched out his back and yawned. He was getting bored already. He glanced over his shoulder and a smile grew on his face upon seeing a particular, glasses wearing kid sitting at the far back of the cafeteria. He looked back at his friends and got their attention by suddenly standing up. "Hey. Watch this. It'll be hilarious." He grabbed his food tray and walked a full circle around the cafeteria, striding up to Neal from behind.

* * *

While Neal was silently eating his food and thinking about how interesting the PE class will be after this period, Julius had silently crept up to him from behind.

He then stood up straight and while walking past him, grabbed the bowl of the slimy brought from his tray and dumped it on Neal's head.

At first, Neal didn't feel anything, he continued eating as if nothing had happened, being absorbed in his own thoughts. His focus, as usually, didn't last long and he looked up from his bowl to see the entire cafeteria laughing and pointing fingers at him. His initial reaction was to scratch his head in confusion. But when his fingers touched his head, he felt a lukewarm substance coating the top of his head. He suddenly stood up and checked his hand. Yellow. Slimy. Yep, it's the pudding.

To his left, Julius, the guy with a bomb for a head was trying to contain his cackling. "Upsie! Sorry. Didn't see you there." He said in a mock apology.

Neal closed his eyes for a moment, calmed his cracking patience, and left the cafeteria. Even the exiting was difficult. Most kids were laughing so loud, others just stared at him with pity. He caught a glimpse of Julius high fiving his buddies as well.

It didn't make the situation any easier once he reached the toilets either. He managed to wash the brought from his hair, but, when he checked, there were no paper towels, which meant that he will have damp hair now. And the next class was PE. He hoped against all odds that he won't get sick by getting caught in a draft or something.

When the school bell had rung, the students had returned to their classes. Except for one class, who was now in the gym's locker rooms. Neal was pretty much the only one changing his clothes out. The others were just talking amongst themselves. His gym clothes were simple, sleeveless blue shirt, green sneakers and dark red sports pants.

He was still re-thinking about what had transpired in the cafeteria. Even with the potion effects weighing down on his mind, it was difficult not to feel upset over that. Maybe the game will help him forget about the incident.

"Move it, Puddin', you're in my way." Tobias pushed past Neal all of a sudden, bumping his shoulder at the same time. A sign of disrespect and absolute rudeness.

"Oh, okay then…" Neal said like he was slapped. That was out of nowhere and uncalled for. And what's with the nickname? "Puddin'?" He repeated while giving a questioning look to his classmates.

"What? You didn't know? That's your nickname now." Gumball answered simply.

Neal blinked a few times. What? How was that even remotely good? "Wait… So in twenty minutes, the entire school has heard of that and now I have a nickname attached to me?"

"What did you expect, it happened during lunch break. The pictures are already up on Elmore plus." Gumball said and went to the gym while chuckling to himself. "He he he…puddin'."

Neal hastily checked his phone. He didn't have an Elmore plus account, on the basis that it was a worse version of Facebook. But, he didn't need an account to check the front page. Yep, there he was. The picture of him sitting with a questioning look while the gooey mass coated his hair. One hundred and thirty likes and shares, and it kept increasing. Most of the comments were from the Franklin students. Mean and nasty things were said.

Neal exhaled patiently, choosing to ignore this all together. He didn't need distractions from his studies now. He deposited his phone into his backpack, and with self renewed spirit to ignore all but studying, set out towards the gym.

A sharp whistle blow cut through the chatter of the gathered kids in the gym. "Alright, listen up everyone. With the cheerleading practice time increased, I gotta go and oversee them." The big, violet coach lumbered towards Jamie. "Which means I'll be leaving the class activities to Jamie over here. You kids have fun while you can."

Jamie, the usually stoic little girl with ginger hair and cow horns smiled evily. Her tail swished around in excitement of what's to come. She cracked her knuckles and cast an intimidating look over her classmates.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Gumball stepped up with a concerned look. If Jamie was going to be in charge of the class, they will have a very bad time. "Why Jamie?"

"Because she's the most physically capable here. Anymore questions?" Coach asked impatiently.

"Yeah, why not-"

"Good. You kids have fun." She said and made haste to the football field.

Gumball went back to Darwin, he already was sweating from all the worrying as to what was about to unfold. "Dude. We gotta do something. If she-"

*Pow!*

A sound of something hitting a wall at high velocity silenced Gumball. A red ball rolled up to his feet. Both siblings slowly turned around to see Jamie standing near a cart full of red balls. "No, anything but that." Darwin whispered in horror and hid behind Gumball.

The rest of the class looked at Jamie with worry and began backing up. The troglodyte girl stretched out her arms and said, "We're going to play dodgeball."

"But don't we need to split into teams for that?" Gumball asked with a shaky, cracking voice.

Before answering, Jamie grabbed a bunch of red, rubber spheres in one hand. "Yeah, we already are. It's me, versus all of you!" After that sentence, utter chaos ensued.

The balls were flying in all directions, being flung by Jamie's insane strength. The sound that they made were almost like bullets being shot. Kids went screaming in all directions to hide from the onslaught of red, but that barely helped.

Because of his slowed brain activity and chemically induced passivity, Neal wasn't fast enough to react to the incoming barrage. He got domed in the head -managed to cover his face in time with one hand-, torso and left leg. It didn't hurt as much as he thought, but now, it was best to pull the opossum strategy 'play dead', and drag himself to cover when Jamie focuses on others.

Bobert was the second to go. Poor robot got a ball stuck in his head, earning him a massive dent as he fell down in a heap of error noises. Next was William. Getting hit in his only body part, the eye, must've hurt like crazy.

Clayton fared better. He transformed his hand into a shield and blocked one of the rocket like balls. He then quickly turned into a spring and shot off towards the metal bleachers, where the others were trying to get to as well.

Tobias received a swollen eye upon being knocked square in the face. He fell on the ground and began crawling after the other kids who were rushing to hide.

It's a good thing that all the good looking girls, minus Tina -who got detention again- were not present to see him get humiliated like that. And thankfully, they weren't going to hear what he was going to scream next. "No! Help me! Please! No, don't leav-WHAAH!" Tobias got utterly buried in a pile of red balls of doom, his plea falling on deaf ears.

Darwin yelled in alarm whilst running, "Dude! Watch out!" and dove to tackle Gumball on the ground. Just as he did, two red blurs sailed above them at insane speed.

"Thanks man. C'mon, we're almost there." Gumball pulled him to his feet and they barely managed to reach the end of the bleachers. As soon as they did, the iron seats and the framing shook as the balls were sent into them at such a massive force.

"One, two, three…" Gumball counted the kids in their group of survivors. Idaho, Joe, Anton, Ocho, Clayton, Darwin and him. Yep, they were doomed. "Dude, it's over. We're going to be carried out on a stretcher." He exclaimed in panic. There was another loud 'boom!' and the bleachers shook again. Jamie was getting closer.

Darwin shook his brother by the shoulders. "Get a grip man! If you don't, the morale will drop and then it's truly game over for us!"

"Okay, okay!" Gumball said hurriedly. He took a deep breath and addressed the troops. "Gentlemen! Today we stand against a foe of unimaginable strength, united for one common goal. To not end up in the nurse's office!"

Couple of meek 'yeah's' were said by the kids. Gumball gave them a judgemental look at their unenthusiastic responses and continued, "Now I know, some of us might not make it! Some of us, will spend the day in the nurse's office, or will even end up in the hospital! But I know, that if we combine our strengths, we will overcome this enemy!" He finished with a dramatic flare.

The gathered kids stared at him with the looks of 'really?' on their faces. Darwin coughed awkwardly. "That was…bad!" He suddenly said with a pout on his puffy cheeks. "You really expect to lead your soldiers to war with that pep talk?!"

A damp mop of blonde hair suddenly appeared from the inside of the bleachers. "Dude, even I could've done better." Neal said with an awkward chuckle.

"Puddin'! Great! We need a distraction to arm ourselves!" Gumball said. His plan was simple, get Puddin' out there, and while he was getting pelted to a coma, everyone will grab some stray dodgeballs and begin fighting back. He quickly explained it to everyone present.

Most kids agreed, except for Neal. With the cold splash of water previously, his head was clearing up quick. Common sense and logic were showing their ugly little teeth as Neal dissected and found multiple bad reasons why they shouldn't go with the blue cats plan. He would've mercilessly shredded his silly little plan in front of everyone here, but the effects of the potion were still running, so he went with a polite suggestion route instead. "Yes, we could go with your plan. But how about this instead, all of us could go underneath these bleachers, like I did. Maneuver around quietly and catch her by surprise. Boom! Easy! No casualties!"

"Dude, Puddin', that plan is about as bad and boring as you." Gumball quickly waved his suggestion off, completely disregarding all logic and good reason, while Darwin nodded in agreement.

Others looked like they were about to protest, even Ocho would've went with what Neal suggested instead of Gumball's highly painful plan of move, but alas, it was not meant to be. In Gumball's head, it was better to go out fighting fairly, then win by scheming.

"Well, you can forget about me going out there. You guys are on your own." Neal retreated back into the darkness under the bleachers. He had enough of humiliation and pain for one day.

"Get back here soldier! We don't accept deserters!" Gumball shouted angrily, yet received no response. "Traitor!" He growled and stomped the ground to express his irritation. He then turned to Ocho. "Guess you're up, dude. Do your squadron proud!"

"Wait, what?" Ocho asked, suddenly caught by the sudden switch in roles. With no explanation given, Gumball pushed him out into the open.

And unfortunately for Ocho, he came face to face with Jamie. He floated back a few paces with a highly worried look. "H-hey, now I know what you're thinking. Should I score a point by knocking him out? And the answer might surprise you."

While Ocho was getting pummeled with the red balls of utter pain, Gumball let out a war cry, and the kids ran out into the open. They went for the balls that were closest. Jamie quickly noticed them all running in different directions, going for the balls that she threw. With all of them abandoning their cover and spacing out so perfectly, it's going to be piece of cake to nail them all one by one.

The little potato, Idaho, was the first fall victim to one of the balls that she precisely threw. Seeing as they were no in the complete open, with no way to fight back or return to cover, Darwin alerted Gumball, "Commander Gumball! The casualties are enormous! We're losing soldiers left and right!"

"Stay strong private Darwin! We can do this!" Gumball replied through gritted teeth as he dropped on the ground to avoid five red spheres from nailing him in the nose.

Darwin stopped mid way of reaching for one of the balls and looked at his brother with a displeased look on his face. "Wait. Why am I the private? Can't I get something cooler, like General?"

"No way dude. You're my soldiers and I'm your commander. That's how it works!" Gumball said like it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Guys! Are you seriously having this argument right now?" Anton shouted from behind Banana Joe, who was curled up in a fetal position. That made him a harder target to hit.

"Well, I have to establish who's in charge here!" Gumball replied hastily and ducked to his right. He finally retaliate with a throw of his own, but Jamie easily avoided it.

"Gumball, you always get to be in charge!" Darwin replied while running in circles to avoid getting struck.

"That's because I'm a natural! Besides, we saw what happened when you were in charge!"

Jamie had grown bored of listening to their squabble. It was time to bring forth the pain. Adjusting her aim, she unleashed utter calamity upon the poor kids.

* * *

Neal was observing the 'battle' from the other end of the bleachers and the other side of the gym. His classmates were relentlessly getting attacked. That little silly argument about who's in charge cost them greatly. He swore he heard either Darwin or Gumball start crying. And to top it all off, someone from their group was missing.

He glanced to his right to see the red ball of clay with a face besides him. "Hey." The ball greeted him quickly while turning his attention to the torture scene.

"Hello." Neal replied and looked at him for a moment when trying to remember his name. "Ah. You're… ugh…Claymore?"

"It's Clayton." The ball of clay responded with slowly.

"Righty. What are you doing here instead of helping your buddies to take down the 'big bad' of this game?"

"Look at her. I'm not going out there." Clayton said with wide eyes when he saw how Jamie sent Darwin into a wall with one ball.

Neal hummed in thought. From what he understood, this wasn't a normal game of dodgeball, as evidenced by Jamie repeatedly pelting kids who were already knocked out. Which meant, for the game to be over, Jamie should keep getting hit until she gave up. Which might be difficult to achieve as she looked like a very tough girl. And with this being their final class for the day, he really didn't care how the game ended, he just wanted to go home and rest already. Plus, he had a lot of homework to catch up on.

"You know, she's distracted right now." Neal slowly pointed out what should've been obvious. "You can transform, right?" It was one question he thought he will never ask anyone. Since when did he go from 'Hey, how's your day?' to 'Can you change your body into something at will?'.

"I…yeah, I can." Clayton responded and looked at him questioningly. "Why?"

"Then go grab some ammo, silently transform, take aim and end this silly charade." Neal said and pointed at all the red balls covering the gym floor. His patience was running really low today.

"But wouldn't that be unfair?" Clayton considered it for a moment, but at the moment, staking out here and avoiding Jamie's wrath seemed like a better option. "Attacking from behind and all?"

"All is fair when it comes to protecting yourself from physical harm." Neal responded automatically. Clayton still didn't look all too convinced. Neal sighed silently. He feared what would happen to him if he were to go out there himself, with that thought in mind, more convincing was in order.

"Look at them. Defenseless, scared and crying." Neal said with a silky smooth voice, drawing out the shouts of the kids at the end of the gym. "You would be like a hero to these guys. Imagine the praise and respect that you would get. Saving them from such a pain. Surely they will hold you in the highest regard after this."

"You really think so?" Clayton asked, still unsure of himself.

Neal answered with a nod, "I don't think, I know so. Now go, be a hero! Save the day!" He ushered him to move with an encouraging grin.

"Alright! I'm gonna do it!" Clayton said with his confidence boosted through the roof. He rolled out into the open to gather some ammunition for what's to come.

With that taken care of, Neal sat back and observed the show from the safety of the shadows.

Clayton gathered as many dodgeballs as he could, moving swiftly and silently so that he wouldn't catch the attention of a certain girl who was busy with making Gumball dance with her throws.

Having gathered a considerable amount of dodgeballs, Clayton began changing his body. He enveloped the dodgeballs with his body and began morphing. Not a second later, Clayton had morphed into a red tank of sorts, with a long cannon pointing squarely at Jamie. He wanted to deliver an epic one liner before firing, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Neal putting his finger to his lips in a sign of 'be quiet!'.

Clayton grinned and nodded in thanks. He took aim, and just as Jamie was about to finish Gumball with a powerful dodgeball strike, Clayton fired the cannon. A loud boom rung out in the gym as a storm of red dodgeballs thundered straight at Jamie's back. The little troglodyte didn't even know what hit her. A loud crash shook the floor as the red dodgeballs scattered across the floor. When the dust had cleared, and the kids who were previously knocked down finally stood up, they saw Jamie laying on the ground and groaning.

Clayton morphed back into his normal form and did a little victory twirl. "Whoohoo! Who's the hero? I'm the hero! Yeah!" He exclaimed happily.

Most of the kids who got downed, managed to pull themselves to their feet, or in William's case, wings.

Gumball walked up to Claiton while carrying groaning and disoriented Darwin on his shoulder. "From behind? Really man? Not cool." He shaked his head in disapproval and left the gym along with others. Many of whom had to painfully drag themselves.

Clayton looked at Neal for answers, who just now got back from checking up on Jamie, who said that they were indeed done with the game. "What?" He inquired innocently.

"You said they will praise me and stuff!" Clayton elaborated with an edge in his voice.

"I did. I also wanted this game to end faster." Neal explained with a laid back smile. "You didn't get your wish, but I got mine. With that out of the way, see you tomorrow." Neal waved him goodbye before leaving the gym to change out his clothes.

Clayton was left there, pondering on just how did he managed to get roped in by the schools new laughing stock to do his bidding.

-Back in Alan's room-

Neal set his school bag down and plopped on the bed. Another day in school, done. Only several hundred left. He wondered just how much more he will have to suffer here until he was free to go home. He checked the Elmore plus, to see what the situation was regarding his embarrassing photo. Two hundred likes, one and half hundred shares. Not to mention, there were some bad meme's made at his expense. "Just, great." He set the phone on his nightstand. Quaffing another full vial of his calming potion, he set to doing his homework.

Only for a massive sneeze to rock his body a minute into his math homework. He sniffled loudly, suddenly feeling shivers run down his back. He knew this feeling all too well. Tomorrow, his nose will be running rivers. Just as he thought, washing his head with cold water was a dumb idea. "Just what I needed to really break in my first week." He growled under his breath.

-End of chapter 5-


	6. Chapter 6

If yesterday was terrible, today, the said terrible reached a whole new tier. Not only did Neal had to sit through class with tissues up his nose, he also had to deal with all the silly ridicule. Due to him getting a cold from yesterday, he was sneezing and blowing his nose every five minutes. His sickness created an immediate three meter danger zone around him. No one wanted to come even remotely close to him. When he sneezed in the general vicinity of Teri, the girl fainted. He wanted to apologise, but some girls didn't allow him to come any closer. Not only that, but the nickname. It seemed that everyone, absolutely every single person, in the school, knew him by the nickname and not his real name. Oh and the jokes at his expense were irritating to say the least.

'Hey Puddin', want some "sweet" tissues?'

'You don't look so tasty.'

'The "Pudding" looks foul today.'

'Don't go out into the sun, Puddin'. You'll go bad.'

Thankfully, they didn't even come near the viscous and foul insults he has heard in his previous school and on the Internet. But as with every bad thing, there was a silver lining to this situation. The entire day seemed like a blur to him. Mostly because it was, since his eyes kept watering too. All in all, bad day, again. How many of those did he have now? Two? Three? Thankfully, much like all the terrible meme trends he saw online, this was going to be forgotten soon and he'll be able to blend in with the background again.

Once the school was out, Neal made a beeline towards Alan's house. He shut himself in the room, went into the bed and didn't come out until a little half past six in the evening. Mainly because he was more than done with this cold of his. He had recalled a pretty effective brew that could put him on steady feet by tomorrow, all that he needed now was hot pepper sauce and a lemon.

Alan and his parents were just now preparing dinner as Neal slowly made his way downstairs. While he was putting on his shoes, Alan had floated up to him to call him for dinner, "Hey, Neal, dinner will be on the table soon."

"I'll pass on that for now." He replied with a nasally voice and sneezed again. He stuffed another tissue up to his face and glanced at his roommate. "Stay a few feet away from me, you don't want to get sick." He added. Now that he said that, he wondered if Alan could even get sick, what with him having no real organs.

"Okay. Then we'll leave some for you in the fridge and…where are you going?" Alan finally inquired upon taking notice of Neal's outdoor clothing.

"I'll be back soon. I'm just heading to the store." Neal responded hastily before winding up and jerking forward with another sneeze and sniffle. He finished putting on his shoes and reached for the door handle just when Alan spoke up again.

"Want me to accompany you?" Alan offered with a concerned look. His roommate/friend didn't look too stable on his feet from the exhausting cold. It was the least he could do to help him in this situation. Besides, if he was buying something heavy, he could help with that too.

"No." Was Neal's short reply before he closed the door shut behind himself. Now that he was out of sight, he shuffled around in his pants pocket and pulled out a small blue vial.

"Don't stay out for too long dear! It's getting late!" He heard Alan's mother call from behind the door. After he answered that he won't, he returned his attention to the vial in hand. He had re-filled it this morning, but it was already halfway empty. He needed to consume more of it today, mainly because his cold lessened the strength of the effect. Then again, he wasn't sure about that because he never consumed it during a cold. Most of the time back home, Neal wouldn't actually even get sick, just feign sickness to get a few extra days off school after Sunday.

That explained why he was at the bottom position of his grades ranking in class.

Taking a quick sip, he pocketed it and went on his way, tissue in hand and with violent sneezes announcing his presence to anyone still roaming the streets.

* * *

The mall during evening always was quiet. Or so Anais thought. With her friend, Jamie by her side, it was even more quiet. Most people that we're walking towards them to pick their groceries were immediately striding the opposite direction after the short bull/troglodyte would snarl at them. Anais wanted to point out her bad way of behaving, but she decided against it, it felt awesome to have someone as intimidating as Jamie as her best friend.

"What are we doing here again?" Jamie finally asked. Evidently, she had already forgotten all about how she asked for help on her science project.

"We're here to pick up supplies for your assignment, remember?" Anais asked, hopefully there was still some grey matter in her friend's skull to recall that.

"No. I don't." Jamie answered back with all seriousness. Most of the time, she didn't even display any emotions, she wore a constant, stoic look on her face and an occasional frown.

However, Anais was her friend for long enough now to recognise the little changes in her behaviour that betrayed her emotions. "Is something wrong? You seem aggravated." She pointed out her Jamie's more than aggressive way of behaving.

Jamie stomped her foot and snarled yet at another customer, who went running a second later. "I'm fine." She said with more firmness in her voice.

"You know, friends are supposed to talk to one and other about their problems and thus, help them solve them."

"Really?"

"No. I have absolutely no idea if it's true." Anais admitted sheepishly. Jamie was her first true friend, not counting Chimera, who was yet to visit her as promised. So without any real practice, she didn't know if it was true or not. "Come on, let's get what you need and go home for the day. It'll soon be night time." And she didn't want to make her mother upset if she didn't return on time. Last time that happened, she threw an enormous fit, but not because of Anais, but because of Gumball and Darwin. "We can talk about your problem after we're done here."

* * *

A dreamy sigh escaped from Gumball. Head propped on his hand, eyes half lidded, he observed his beloved girlfriend prepare for the Friday game from the bleachers of the stadium. As always, from his perspective, Penny was nothing short of amazing. Her grace when dancing and performing difficult acrobatic moves, her bright smile that always made his heart beat twice as fast, her strong willpower that refused to give out under the tenuous strain of constant training in the field. Perfection in every sense of the word.

He was so mesmerised by her, that in his daydreaming, he completely missed the fact that the sun was already setting over the horizon. A sharp whistle blow dragged him out from his trance.

Down in the field, the coach spat out her whistle and directed a scrutinising gaze on the girls who were barely even standing on their feet, or in Masami's case, floating. "Alright, good work everyone. I expect you all to rest well and be ready to continue training tomorrow. Twice as hard."

Many of the girls wanted to groan and protest. They were already doing their absolute best and more, but it seemed that the coach didn't understand that there was a certain limit to each person. So without paying their exhausted looks so much as a glance, the coach began giving a speech about the great honour of sportsmanship and telling a story of her own accomplishments.

Amongst those who were barely listening in the first place, Penny looked around the stadiums bleachers for a particular blue cat. She found him sitting at the very top of the stadium seats. When the coach concluded her, long, 'inspiring' sports related story and dismissed everyone for the day, Penny was the only one to stay behind in the stadium. She made her way towards the seats, where her blue sunshine sat.

"Hey Gumball! Tired of waiting?" She asked with a heavy sigh and plopped down besides him.

"Not at all." He replied quickly while flashing her a grin. Few hours of sitting was nothing at all for him. "You're talking to the King of couch after all…well, more like a prince. My dad has a solid hold of the king title."

Penny forced a smile at his humour but didn't respond otherwise as her mind was set on other things. She rolled her shoulders painfully slow and rubbed her arm. She felt sore all over, and they will have to train even harder tomorrow. Penny was beginning to doubt if she was up to the task as the cheerleading captain. All she wanted to do now is to collapse in her bed and sleep throughout the evening. Forget about dinner, she doubted if she will be able to climb to her room, much less walk back. Maybe she should fly instead?

It didn't go unnoticed by Gumball that his precious future wife was in great discomfort. From the pained look that clouded her picturesque features, he guessed that she was more than tired. "Is something bothering you?"

"I…yeah. But it's nothing too bad. Don't worry about it." Penny said with more cheer in her voice to dissipate any worries that her love might have.

Gumball, however, wasn't buying it. Her miserable attempt at hiding her physical exhaustion, and inner turmoil made him unbearably sad. He was going to melt any worries that Penny might have, no matter what. "Then neither should you!" He suddenly said in a spike of optimism, surprising the fairy girl slightly.

"Even if you mess up in front of hundreds of people in one of the biggest moments in Elmore that will make history-" Wrong choice of words. Penny's eyes widened with a flash of fright. Gumball immediately wanted to kick himself for his stupidity. "Ehh..what I mean by that, no matter what happens, I'll be there for you! I'll stick by your side even if the crowd boo's and throws food at you. Heck! I'll act as a shield that protects you from that!"

Penny giggled weakly, a loving look directed at Gumball as she responded, "That was oddly specific. Can you see the future?"

Gumball nodded eagerly and said smoothly. "Yes. You and me, married with two, no! Three kids!"

The implications were sudden and heavy to say the least. Her cheeks turned dark shade of red really quickly. "Whoa! Slow down there,Watterson. Let's not start deciding on such things now."

"Okay, I can wait, no problem!" Gumball chuckled at how adorable her flushed face was. He did decide to let up on the teasing, as her shape-shifting was tied to her emotions. He did know what she turned into when she was aggravated and it's certainly not something cute.

With all that said, there was just one more thing to address here. Gumball didn't know how Penny will take to this upcoming action, but he was feeling brave today. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her on his lap.

Penny laughed awkwardly, unsure as to what Gumball was up to this time. "Gumball, what are you doing?"

"You said you're sore! So I'm going to kiss your booboo's away!" Gumball replied with determination and scarlet red cheeks. It looked like his face betrayed just how much he was actually enjoying this.

"We're not four, Gumball. I don't think it'll-" Before she could protest any further, he picked up her arm and placed his lips against it. And it tickled. A lot. Penny began chuckling and with each kiss that Gumball oh so graciously placed up her arm, her laughter intensified.

Only when Gumball reached her cheek, did Penny stopped laughing out loud. She somehow managed calm herself to uneven giggling, but even then it was difficult to talk. "O-okay. Okay, G-Gumball. I'm already f-feeling better."

Man, he was on fire today! Confidence through the roof and smooth moves that clearly made Penny's heart flutter. Usually he just caused embarrassment for himself and Penny. And he knew that. Perhaps things were finally looking up for him? "Really? I could go on if my lady desires it."

"Laughing until I can no longer breathe is not something I desire that much, Gumball." Penny said and slid off his lap. "C'mon. It'll start getting dark soon and if I'm not home by then, my dad will-"

"Tear down half of Elmore until he finds you?" Gumball offered jokingly as they made their way down the bleachers.

Penny answered with a nod and a half smile, "Yeah, something like that."

* * *

"So, this problem of yours?" Anais asked Jamie as they were walking down the street, their science, or rather, Jamie's science supplies in hand.

"I don't want to talk about it." Jamie replied evenly. She didn't even sound like herself anymore, aggressive, gruff, and stoic. Something must be wrong. Very wrong.

It looked like Anais will have to press further if she wanted to get anywhere. "Jamie. That's the problem. Come on, we're friends right? Tell me what's wrong, and I promise I'll try to help you."

"..Fine." There was a momentary pause, before she spoke up again, "I got beaten in dodgeball."

"That's it?" Anais asked out of sheer surprise. Surely there had to be more to it than a simple loss at a game.

Jamie glared at Anais, and the little bunny shut her mouth. Of course, how could she forget. Sports, strength, being at the top, it's what Jamie most likely valued like Anais valued knowledge and studies. As Anais was about to inquire further as to who might have even stood a chance against her, her name was called from behind.

The two friends stopped and turned around to see Gumball and Penny, walking hand in hand towards them. Anais wanted to gag at their public display, but stopped herself when she noticed just how awkward the two looked. Maybe it was because Gumball's hand was sweating and Penny was trying to ignore it with an awkward grimace on her face.

"Hey Anais and...Jamie." Gumball greeted them carefully and etched closer to Penny, who just waved with a smile at the two. He still remember how angry Jamie had been today. Clayton didn't even show up to school after Jamie had threatened to flush him down the toilet on Elmore plus. "What are you doing out so late?" He addressed his sister with a berating look that they mother had so many times.

Although, it had zero effect on Anais as Gumball wasn't nearly as scary as their mom. "I have you know that I can take care of myself better than you can. And I was about to ask you the same question."

"I am walking Penny back home." He responded, and left out the part where he told Penny that they should do more 'couple' things together. Man, did she notice that his hand was sweating? Yep, her face said it all, but it was too late to back out now. "And you are…?"

"Doing the same. Me and Jamie were getting things for the science project that-"

"Uhm, I don't mean to rush, but I must really get going." Penny spoke up.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. You guys want to come along?" Only after the words left his mouth did Gumball realise what he done. He cut his alone time with Penny. So much for being on fire today.

Anais took up his offer all too willingly as she wanted to ask her brother about how to be a better friend. Quietly of course, she didn't want Jamie to know that she asked her brother for advice.

"By the way, where is Darwin? Have you guys seen him?" Gumball asked as he looked around. He was beginning to miss his brother and being apart for so long didn't really sit well with him.

Anais hummed in thought, "I saw him going somewhere with Carrie after school."

* * *

Two kids were happily walking through a small, three covered area in the park. Well, one of them at least. The ghost girl had a box in her hand and a mischievous smile adoring her cute features. The fish looked a little bit more reserved to himself and kept glancing at the box in the girls arms.

Darwin finally decided to break the silence. "Carrie, I'm all for relaxing, romantic walks in the forest, but why did you bring him along?"

The ghost girl glanced at her boyfriend and smiled, "It's like a pet at this point. It kept complaining that it didn't get enough sunlight, so I'll have to take it out of it's box. Preferably when we're further away from anyone who could hear his shouting."

"Alright, that's fair, I guess." Darwin replied somewhat forcefully.

They managed to find a really nice spot in the park near a pond. It was surrounded by couple of young trees. Through the leaves, the sunlight fell in thin rays on the ground and an ever so gentle breeze swayed the reeds near the pond.

"Wanna stop here?" Darwin asked upon looking around. They had set out to find a quiet place to chill out. This was just the perfect kind of spot. Much further away from the park itself, no people around either.

"Yeah, this is perfect." Carrie responded and floated to one of the trees close to the pond. When the two kids settled down, Carrie opened the box and slid it into the sunlight.

"Uagh! Crazy woman! I hate you!" Was the immediate greeting that the pedant gave them.

Darwin flinched as the pedant yelled as loud as it could at Carrie, "Yikes. What did you do to him?"

"I wanted to find out just what kind of trinket it was, so I cast some spells on it." Carrie explained with a clam grin. The spells that she cast on the trinket weren't as humane as one would expect, yet they were cast on an object, so it wasn't that bad.

"It? IT!? I HAVE A NAME!" The pedant yelled and trashed around in its box. Such disrespect from the ghost. He despised her so much. And the anger was increased tenfold from all the tortuous magic that she cast on him. "When my host finds you, you will be sorry! This entire country will be sorry!" He threatened, one could feel the venom in its old and raspy voice.

"Your host?" The pedant suddenly went silent and did not utter a single word again. "S-Should we be worried?" Darwin stuttered from incoming anxiety that the pedants words have caused.

Carrie waved off his worrying lazily, "Nah. He always talks about that and goes silent after. Bunch of baloney in my opinion."

Everything went back to normal after that. The two kids talked about all sorts of things and just simply enjoyed each others company. If the sentient pedant -who most likely could see them- wasn't here, Darwin would've tried the thing that he saw his parents do. 'Cuddling' as they say. Alas, he settled on just holding hands with Carrie, which she didn't seem to mind and even preferred it.

* * *

The walk was awkward. The atmosphere was awkward. Gumball and Anais were walking in front. It seemed that they entered some kind of a discussion.

While the two siblings were talking about ins and outs of friendship, Penny was left walking together with Jamie. She rarely had any interaction with the shorter classmate. Or, at all really. Because of that, she felt really awkward in this situation. Penny doubted that the two of them even shared anything in common. And there was never really any opportunities for them to talk. And now it proved difficult to even start a conversation, so instead of trying, she settled on walking quietly besides her.

Gumball doubted that his sister was listening to anything he was telling her about how to be a better friend. Heck, she looked to be absorbed in her own thoughts at the moment. So with their little discussion done for the moment, he looked back at Penny with a smile, "Hey, want me to carry you?" Gumball offered all of a sudden.

Just as Penny was about to politely refuse his sweet offer, Jamie interjected, "I can walk for myself." Apparently, Jamie thought that Gumball asked her.

"..a..right.." Gumball stumbled with his words, making Penny giggle with his dumbfounded reaction.

"Achoo!" Gumball was surprised by the loud sneeze. "Ho god…where did my tissue go.." The nasally voice suddenly seemed much closer. Before Gumball could look around, he ran into a wall. Or so he thought. No wall would give out a yelp of surprise.

Only when he was put on his feet by Jamie, did he see whom he bumped into. It was a pathetic looking person. One or two inches taller than him, with a tissue blocking half his face. But the hair and round glasses he recognised.

"I'm so sorry about that! I didn't see where I was going." Neal quickly apologised as politely as he could. He couldn't see properly with his eyes watering every few seconds. And now he knocked over…his own classmate. Just great. At least it wasn't some old person. That would've been a disaster.

"No problem, Pudding." Gumball replied and dusted off his jeans. At least he didn't earn a bruise. "Wow, you look terrible."

"I know. Sick." Neal replied and sneezed again, all the while choosing to ignore the use of his nickname.

Small group of friends backed away from him almost instinctively. "Anais! Stay away from him, you want to get sick too?" Gumball pulled his sister towards himself while giving Neal a look of utter disgust. A look which he wasn't going to forget anytime soon. Although, Neal did understand. Somewhat. "Well, it's been nice to see you, Pudding. Bye."

When the kids continued on their way, Gumball could hear a certain someone slumping after them. Gumball turned around with an annoyed look and shot a suspicious glare towards Neal. "Why are you following us?"

"I live in the direction you're walking. Remember? I'm Alan's roommate." Neal replied with a reluctant smile. What was it with him? And what's with the tone? Every single person in the town were turning out to be so mean.

With Neal's answer, Gumball instantly liked his new classmate way less. Even with watering eyes and a tissue stuffed up his nose, Neal constantly smiled and grinned as if he wasn't about to fall over from his sickness and all was right with the world. A picture perfect copy of Alan except in a different body. And Gumball didn't want to deal with another Alan now.

"I knew there was a reason why I didn't like him.." Gumball muttered and raised his voice, "Well, keep your distance. We don't want to get infected too." Gumball shooed him away and Neal complied. It was kind of rude, but he guessed it was warranted. He took a few steps back, with Gumball waving his hand for him to keep going back. At about ten feet back, he was allowed to continue on his way.

On their way home, the group of four grew to six as they met Darwin and Carrie. With the two new additions, their group entered into a chat about the game and their plans for that upcoming day.

Neal could hear the louder bits of the conversation. Apparently, their school football team was named 'Ducks'. Did the school really name the football team 'Ducks?'. No wonder they were getting picked on all the time.

By the time the sky was beginning to turn dark, Jamie and Penny had split off when the group came close to their homes. Only three siblings and Carrie remained, with Neal trailing much further away.

"So, isn't it the man's job to walk the girl home, not the other way around?" Gumball asked Carrie out of curiosity. It seemed that she was doing what Darwin was supposed to be doing. And it was funny in its own right.

"Normally it is, but this cutie would get scared walking alone in the dark." Carrie replied and gently patted Darwin on the head.

"Hey, I'm not afraid of the dark at all!" Darwin replied all too hotly while feeling his cheeks turn red from the embarrassment.

"Sure you're not." Gumball said while trying to contain his laughter, "Remember that one time when the power cut out? The scream you gave out was enough to awake ."

"Dude, not in front of her." Darwin whispered through gritted teeth. He really disliked it when Gumball put him on the spot like that, especially in front of Carrie of all people.

"Sorry man, I had to." Gumball responded. He suddenly became aware of just how tired and hungry he was getting. There was a sharp turn into an alleyway just a little ways off from where they were walking. "Hey, guys, let's take a shortcut through there." Gumball pointed at a clearly dangerous alleyway that was between two large brick buildings.

Darwin regarded the street which Gumball pointed at. "Dude, that's the place you go when you want to get assaulted."

"Oh yeah. Most likely by a big and sharp toothed monster that eats fish for lunch." Carrie added with an devilish grin. Only then did she notice that Darwin's bottom lip started quivering. "Oops. Sorry! Sorry!" She hugged him quickly and it seemed to do the trick. But it wasn't nearly enough to encourage him to continue walking.

"You're being too paranoid. C'mon, let's go." Gumball moved along with a confident spring in his step. "I'll show you that there's nothing to fear in the dark places."

Begrudgingly, Darwin, followed by Carrie, took Gumballs chosen route. The wide space between the buildings was drowned in darkness. It was a little darker than what the night promised to bring and that alone made Darwin cling to Carrie.

Gumball grinned as they were almost halfway through the alleyway. "See? Nothing to be afraid of!" He assured the trembling fish, who still had his arms wrapped around Carrie's waist awkwardly.

"You should be careful of what you say." Came a feminine voice from upfront.

Darwin shot Gumball a displeased glare. "You had to jinx it."

Multiple forms became clear in the shadows as they approached the three kids. A fire from a lighter light up one of their faces as a cigarette was lit. What a nasty mug it was, covered halfway in a red hood, skin black as the night sky and wrinkly like a rugged cloth.

Many of the people became more clear the closer they surrounded the children. All of them wore some manner of red clothing. A tall standing hawk, with a red hood. A raisin with a cigarette in his mouth and similar hood. Behind the two stood a bright white mannequin doll with a red bandana. There was a girl with purple hair and one, singular eye, the color of the pupil was violet, much like her pixie haircut. She wore a short skirt in the color of bright red.

When Gumball looked behind himself, he saw that three more people had taken the position behind them. On the right, a large, dark brown serpent with a long red scarf. On the left, a jacket up scarecrow, his biceps were bigger than Gumballs head. He had a straw hat painted red, same with his vest. And in the middle, stood what can only be described as a nature's accident. A spider humanoid in the colour of coal, with long and pointy fingers. He wore a red jacket with a leather belt around the waist. From the look of things, he was calling the shots here.

"Is it just me, or are kids way much bigger than in the past?" Gumball whispered to Anais, who nodded slowly and hid behind him.

"Now what would bunch of preschoolers be doing out here, at a time like this?" The spider humanoid asked, regarding them with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"We're just walking home, that's all. Now excuse us, we want to get back to it." Gumball calmly replied and tried to get past the four people in the front. Which resulted in him getting showed back into Darwin's arms. "Hey! That was uncalled for, dude."

His angry remark fell on deaf ears. The spider guy took a threatening step forward, making all three kids take one back. All six of his red eyes blinked one at a time as he inspected Gumball very closely. "You little meat sacks don't look like you're from Franklin~"

"Oh, we would know if they were." Said the humanoid girl with one eye. "Look at those arms, perfect toothpicks." She chirped mockingly.

"Don't you Elmore's know that this is our turf now?" Hissed the serpent as he slithered past them. His voice made Darwin and Anais shudder. Although, Gumball just crossed his arms on his chest and looked at him weirdly.

"So what, were not allowed to walk the streets anymore? This is a free country you know." Gumball replied to the serpent, who snickered in response.

"Let's just say this is one of Franklin's private clubs. No weak, pathetic Elmore's allowed." The spider humanoid said with a big grin, gazing from above at them as if he stood taller than anyone here.

If that was what they considered as insulting, Gumball didn't want to hear their best ones. It was already embarrassing that they used such out of date lines. Of course, he just had to let them know it, "If you're going to insult us, at least try harder." He said without missing a beat and continued with his sudden correction of their slang, "Internet trolls would do a better job than you, and they don't even have the IQ to find a decent job." He finished with absolute snarkiness.

Darwin and Carrie looked between Gumball and the tall humanoid spider with surprise in their eyes. He wasn't saying anything, just staring at Gumball.

"And what's with the matching colour clothes?" Gumball looked around the surrounding group of people around them. All wore some kind of red piece of clothing. "What, are you guys some kind of a gang? That's so 80s, get with the times you hipsters. Focus on things that matter instead of brooding around in dark alleyways." A key to happiness was the ability to become larger than life. And that's what he thought of himself. He was larger than life and if he could help others become like that too, that would be even better.

Was Gumball trying to dig a hole for himself and the three of them? Throughout his entire mocking tirade, Darwin and Anais tried to shush his brother. Of course it didn't work. He just had to let his thoughts be known to everyone. And while Gumball carried on, he clung to Carrie while witnessing how his brother dashed any chance of them getting out of here unhurt.

"Trying to act intimidating to scare bunch of kids. You can't get any more sadder than that." Gumball concluded sharply and awaited for their response. There was nothing but silence from all of them. They all stared at him dumbly.

"Well, I tried." Gumball sighed as he gave up. Some people just didn't listen and there was no saving these people. Of course he could get back to them at a later date, since it was getting late now. That is of course if he doesn't get distracted by something else. "Let's go, guys." He ushered for his siblings and friend to go.

Gumball was grabbed by the collar of his sweater and pulled back to face the spider. "And where do you think you're going with that big mouth of yours?" The spider said with a grin.

"Why am I not surprised with your delayed reaction?" Gumball snorted. "What, did it take you that long to re-evaluate your entire life and bad choices done in it?" He said with a big smile. So his words did cut throughout these silly people and their childish behaviour. It seemed that he was able to easily drag their problems from out of them. Now all he needed to do is come up with a way to fix their 80s gang behaviour. Perhaps some therapy from would to the trick? And a wardrobe change.

The spider smiled sweetly. Here it comes. Gumball smiled back and spoke up again, "Look, I know you try to act cool. But listen, it's a school night, and we all need to go, how about-"

"There's something you don't understand here kid. Everything is about respect these days." The spider cut him off suddenly, his voice sounding so sugary to the point of creepiness. "You like to spit trash, loudmouth. But can you eat it?"

"Wait. Wait. Wait!" Gumball pleaded for a short pause. This wasn't supposed to go like this at all. "I usually say what's on my mind to insult people into bettering themselves and it works out. That or I walk away. Perhaps you guys didn't know how things work around here?" He said innocently, completely ignorant of the fact that he just sealed his fate.

The spider shaked his head with a low chuckle. Was this kid really that dense? Did he not realise the fact that they hated Elmore losers? It should've been blatantly obvious that nothing will save them from taking a wrong turn into their territory. And now that he insulted them like that, he was planning on making him pay for it. Him and his little friends. "Yeah, we're not going to do things your way."

"W-why n-n-not?" Gumball asked and began to back away. Perhaps Darwin was right after all. A dark alleyway is the place where people go to get assaulted.

"Because I'm bigger, stronger, and now..pissed off more than ever." The spider followed after him with a widening grin of pure malice. "Yo, Jason! What's on the meniu for our esteemed guests?" He called out to one of his friends.

Jason, the buff scarecrow bent down and scooped up some dirt and mud off the ground. He formed a solid looking ball with it and handed it to the spider.

"Aah yes. Tonight's special. A ball of mud, sprinkled with smoked cigarette buds." He said with glint of crazed excitement in his eyes.

Anais face palmed. Now, her brother really done it. "Maybe we should run for it?" She whispered to Darwin and Carrie. Of course they couldn't leave Gumball behind. Carrie already planned on grabbing all three of them to teleport out of here the second an opportunity arises.

A strong grip suddenly landed on her shoulder. "Now that would just be rude. Please wait for a bit until our chef's prepare your meals too~" Said the purple cyclops girl while squeezing her shoulders lightly, just to emphasise how much strength she really had and that there was no running away from this.

Anais, Darwin and Carrie gulped. What have they gotten themselves into? To be more precise, what has Gumball gotten them into?

* * *

Neal nervously bit his nails as he observed from the corner of the street. "Not good. Those guys look like huge trouble." Neal thought with no small manner of panic. Some stood a good head taller than Gumball. Many of them wore some manner of red clothing. "Franklin…" He remembered, many of these students he saw on Elmore plus, they left some nasty comments on his 'Pudding incident' pictures. And it was yesterday that he saw a different group of Franklin students picking on his classmates.

"..five, six, seven. All jacked up and sporty. This looks bad." He was a year older than the rest of his class -thankfully no one realised it yet-, didn't that technically mean that he was at least a tiny bit responsible for them? Of course, his mind had to conjure up that thought. Neal considered calling the police, but in the time it would take them to arrive, something bad might happen.

He weighed his options. Enter a den of monstrous looking teens with superiority complex, or keep walking and hope that his classmates will be okay? He really wanted to help them. Even if they were kind of jerky towards him, they didn't deserve to be pushed around. Or by the looks of it, made to eat mud.

Swallowing his fear and consciously trying to tell his legs to stop trembling, he decided to intertwine before the situation escalated. And he had come up with something good to get them and by extension, himself, out of this mess.

* * *

"Open wide, sunshine~" The spider grabbed Gumball by his face, making the poor cat squeak in pain. The pointy fingers digging past his fur and into his skin drove the point home. Better comply and hope that the same doesn't happen to his brother and sister. Although he secretly wished otherwise. If he was going to go through something so disgusting, why shouldn't they?

A sneeze alerted everyone. A collective head turn was had. A sniffling teen slowly dragged himself towards them. He stopped short and looked past the tall spider at Gumball with a greeting smile.

"Hey, Gaben, Andrew and…Carisa?" The four kids stared at him. Those were not their names. Awkward. He carried on nonetheless. "What are you guys doing here so late?"

The spider let go of Gumballs face and turned to look at the new, pathetic arrival. "And who the hell are you? Were in the middle of something. Beat it." He said with assertive aggressiveness towards him.

"Heeeyy. Ain't you that slimey kid from Elmore Junior high? The one trending on the Internet?" Some hawk looking student asked with a click of his beak. Was that a knife that he was scratching his beak with? No, thankfully it wasn't. Just some really sharp looking feathers. The tips of the feathers looked to be of metallic kind. What sort of monsters were they?

"No. I'm...ugh...friend of their family." Neal answered as quickly as he could. "Anyways, guys. Your father called, he said that he was very angry at you and that he's on his way to pick you up right now." He then added upon his lie to really sell it, "You should tell your friends to run too. You know how your dad gets when he's angry."

Gumball looked between Neal and the spider. All the Franklin students shared glances with each other. The spider backed away reluctantly, waving his boney hand for his subordinates to back off. Getting in trouble with adults wasn't one their agendas, yet. "Let's go guys."

On his way past Gumball, he whispered in a menacing tone, "I'll see you later, friend."

Gumball shaked his head with an annoyed sigh. Of course the guy who spent most of his time with Alan had to interfere. "No thanks, Alan number two.." He then added in a loud whisper, "Codename: Runny pudding-" Darwin, Anais and Carrie chuckled loudly. "We didn't need your help."

"Gumball, they were going to make you eat mud." Anais pointed out after she stopped giggling at their saviours expense. As she was about to thank Neal, Gumball interrupted her.

"At least I was going to take it like a man! But this liar had step in!" He angrily pointed at Neal, who recoiled in surprise. Nobody asked him to interfere. What, was he trying to be all goody two shoes like Alan?

"What was that?" A familiar voice spoke up from the end of the alleyway. The group of Franklin students have heard Gumballs outburst. "Liar? He lied? So your daddy dearest isn't coming?"

"Afraid not, buggo." Gumball crossed his hands on his chest with a smile. Puddin' was in some deep trouble now due to his dishonesty, and he will bear witness to it all.

On the other end of the alleyway, their bullies frowned. Especially the spider student. "Ace, what do we do?" Asked the hawk. The spider, Ace, snapped his fingers and pointed at the group of five kids, "Get em!" He commanded and his friends sprung into action.

"Duuude!" Darwin stomped his foot on the ground angrily. Why did his brother do that? Why did he have to bring back the trouble on them?

"Good job Gumball. You just had to say it, didn't you?" Anais joined in on the glaring at her brother. He completely stomped on the perfect lie/excuse that his classmate had made up. That irritated her greatly, but alas, she didn't push it further. It was a moot point now.

"I'd rather eat mud than be helped by Alan numero dos!" He pointed accusedly at Neal. Gumballs pride wouldn't allow him to take it no matter what.

"Just shut up and run!" Carrie grabbed the three of them and ran for it with Neal following closely behind.

The collective of kids darted from the alleyway and rounded the corner, heading straight for the living area of the town. Their pursuers were gaining on them rapidly. Gumball even had to carry Anais as her short legs weren't designed for running. The children suddenly dove into a street where fences of the backyards formed walls. Alas, they were so focused on getting away that they didn't see how Neal had fallen behind.

Tired from the sickness, with a stuffy and runny nose. It wasn't the best condition to be in when being chased down. They were leaving him behind with each meter ran. "Wait, guys, I-!" He coughed, and slowed to an absolute crawl. He couldn't breathe properly anymore and had to blow his nose. From the looks of it, Franklin's were gunning for him now.

A big gap was put between him and the rest of the kids. And while Neal was struggling to catch up, Carrie grabbed both Gumball and Darwin, what followed after that was a sound akin to that of a cracking whip and all four of them disappeared in front of Neal. "I…ah…" His surprise filled watery eyes soon turned glum after he realised something, he was abandoned. "Ain't even worth helping, huh?" He muttered to himself dejectedly.

Neal slowly turned around to try and talk the Franklin students out of whatever they had planned for him. However, he was tackled to the ground by the mannequin and the scarecrow before he could open his mouth. "Well, that's what I get for trying to help someone in this town. Note to self: Don't help anyone ever again." He thought regretfully when he got his hand locked behind his back. He was roughly pulled to his feet and showed against the fence. All five Franklin kids surrounded him.

Was Neal afraid? Definitely. Should he have stayed away from drinking all of his potion? Absolutely. Will he really start swinging his pathetically thin arms at students older and beefier than him? Not a chance. But it wouldn't hurt to try and diffuse their plans for him. "S-stay b-back! I know h-how to f-fight!" He stuttered all throughout the sentence with his lower lip quivering.

The raisin, hoodie wearing student stepped up with an uncomfortably deep voice which carried his laugh. "Ha! Ha! Yeah right. And I know Santa Claus."

"Truly?"

"No."

* * *

With that many people, Carrie couldn't teleport them very far. She had just enough power to blink all four of them over the fence. They were now standing on someone's neatly mowed lawn. Gumball and Darwin were both breathing heavily from the little workout and the close encounter excitement. Anais on the other hand wasn't tired at all, mainly because Gumball had enough smarts to carry her during the entire getaway. And she noticed a lack of people in their group.

She suddenly perked up when realisation hit her. Where was their saviour? Well, sort of a saviour. "Wait. We left your classmate behind!" Anais said worriedly to Gumball. Those people that were chasing them were definitely up to no good.

"He's gone! Stop living in the past!" Darwin replied to her with sadness in his voice.

"Meh, whatever." Gumball shrugged with little care and the ghost girl nodded along. "It'll be a great lesson for him to learn how to stand up for himself."

"I'm very much alive! Ow!" They heard Neal shout over the fence. They were quite literally on the other side.

"He was so brave to sacrifice himself for us!" Darwin dramatically wiped off a fake tear.

"I did not sacrifice myself! You left me behind! OW! STOP! PLEASE, HELP ME!" Whatever was happening on the other side, it certainly wasn't pleasant.

Then they heard another voice speak up, "Yo, Jason! Get a picture of this!"

"No! My dignity!" Neal pathetically whined and a sound of a loud sneeze earned him multiple 'Ew's' from the Franklin's. They were putting him through something bad as evidenced by their laughter and Neal's begging to stop.

"Let's go home." Gumball said and yawned loudly. Great, he was hungry and tired. Maybe Carrie could teleport them one at a time to save time? No, she looked tired out after that jump in reality. Walking it was. "Come on guys." He tiredly dragged his feet across the backyard with Darwin and Carrie following closely behind.

"Wait! But...ahh!" Anais sighed in disappointment as she gave up on pushing the issue further. Sometimes, there was just no talking to her brothers.

* * *

Quiet. So, so quiet. It was a blessing. The silence of an evening. A time between day and night where everything was calm. Neal inhaled the evening air after blowing out his nose. That encounter could've gone better. No, it would've gone better, had it not been for the selfishness of his classmate. He mulled over the incident as he was approaching Alan's House.

Self respect, stomped into the ground. Respect from others, gone without a chance to regain it. Hope of ending those silly jokes and ridicule, destroyed. A small hope of finding a girlfriend? Buried deeper than the lost city of Atlantis. What was there left for him other than to go cry in the dark corner and continue reading books in hopes that he will find a somewhat decent job? Oh, right. The medicine brew.

He entered the house and took off his shoes. Alan wasn't there to greet him this time. Neither were his parents. He heard laughter coming from the living room. Taking a quick peek over the corner, he saw Alan and his parents floating over their couch and watching some sitcom. Laughing, happy, enjoying each others company. He couldn't look at them for more than few seconds. It reminded him of something that he hasn't experienced before.

Neal quietly made his way to the second floor to retrieve his 'alchemy' book from the box. Soon after he was done changing and with his book in hand, he now stood in front of the stove. An iron kettle was set to boil some water. The contents of his jacket pockets were emptied. One green lemon, and a small bottle of hot pepper sauce.

He braced himself against the kitchen counter, the events of the evening repeated in his mind like a broken record. They left him behind to save their own hides and to protect what little self respect they had. He had entered the devil's domain to help them out, and in return, he received worse humiliation than what happened yesterday in the cafeteria.

So much for loyalty and friendship from those four. Bitter and sad, he shuffled through the cupboards for a big mug, or a tall glass.

Forget about making friends in this nasty corner of the world. Study hard. That's where it's at. Those four classmates of his and their actions only served to strengthen his thoughts on everyone. In his eyes, even under the influence of the potion, everyone here was a monster. Inside and out. Sparks of anger and resentment were making themselves known inside his heart.

The kettle started whistling, steam rose in front of his face, taking him out of his trance. Neal immediately set to work. Hot sauce was poured into a tall glass, and the lemon was squeezed dry off its juice. Boiling water was poured on top and mixed with a spoon.

Neal looked at the steaming, swirling vortex of red in the glass. "Alright..bottoms up." He braced himself for the searing sensation of pain. The water was boiling after all and the brew has to be consumed while still hot.

* * *

Alan had just finished dinner with his parents. Since Neal was sick, he declined to eat with them or in general and just retreated to bed early.

Happily humming to himself, Alan exited the bathroom and floated towards his bedroom to settle down for the night. Once he came inside, he saw that Neal wasn't asleep yet, which was unusual. Usually at this time, he was out cold.

Alan inquired about his roommate's condition, "Hey. Feeling any better?"

"A little." Neal replied with his watering eyes glued to the screen of his phone.

"Glad to hear that." He said, genuinely feeling revealed. Neal did look better than in the morning. "A good night's sleep will put you on your feet, you'll see." Optimistic and full of cheer as always. It made Neal wonder, how could Alan keep his good mood all the time?

"Hey, what's that?" Alan pointed at the nightstand besides Neal's bed.

He glanced at where Alan was pointing. He forgot to hide his vial as it was currently placed out in the open. There was a tiny amount of the potion left. It gave out a faint blue glow in the darkened room. With his head feeling like a rock and his mouth and stomach feeling like they're on fire, he barely cared anymore if Alan saw. What was the point in hiding anything from him anyways? His parents, definitely. But Alan seemed like a trustworthy person. "It's my…medication. To keep them demons from getting out if you catch my drift."

"Oh, I see." Alan giggled lightly, which made Neal to quirk his eyebrow questioningly. He wasn't joking, his deadpan delivery should've been enough of an indication already. "I haven't seen you go to the doctors or a pharmacy before. Is it prescribed?" Alan asked as he eyed the vial. The few drops of liquid inside, it didn't look all too good. Nothing that glows in the dark can be good for health.

Neal answered his question, with another question, "Have you ever seen any medicine glow like that?"

"Well, not really." Alan answered after giving it some thought.

"Then it's not prescribed, is it?"

"Then where did you get it?"

Not bothered by his curiosity and actually seeing it as a chance to at least show off a little, Neal quickly answered, "Made it myself. You'd be surprised what can you make with few herbs and a bit of chemicals."

"Wow, you must be amazing at chemistry then!"

Neal blinked twice from the surprise. Was Alan trying to question the sketchy nature of his chemistry by complimenting him? If that's the case, Neal didn't fall for it. "Yeah. A little."

After Alan had lied down under the covers, he wanted to continue having a conversation. It was a rare opportunity for them to talk and Alan wanted to know a little bit more about his friend. "So, what do you think of Elmore so far?" Such a simple, but effective question to get the talk going. Besides, Elmore was the most brightest, happiest place in the entire world with only the most amazing people around -despite an occasional mishap or two-. Neal must love this town by now.

"Good question. I hate it here. Simple as that." Neal answered without any hints of joking.

Alan was at a loss for words after the surprising reply. He wanted to ask a lot of questions, but just focused on the most obvious one, "Why? Did something happen?

"Go on Elmore plus, trending section. You'll see for yourself."

"Oh...again?" He was aware of the events that happened yesterday. Alan was in the cafeteria afterall. But he only saw the aftermath when Neal exited the cafeteria as he was preoccupied with chatting to Carmen.

"Again." Neal confirmed with a deep scowl. He had so many regrets. Getting involved, not raising his hand when it was warranted, ending up as a bigger joke. All of that and for what? He gained nothing out of it and sunk deeper.

"I'm so so-"

"Save it for someone who cares. Good night, Alan." Neal put down his phone and turned on the other side.

The room fell into deep silence, with Alan looking over his roommates slumbering form. "Good night, friend." He finally said with a somber look and shut off the light.

-end of chapter 6-

Authors note: If someone is having a good day, someone else is having a bad day. Easy as that. But worry not, things will only get worse and worse. This is just a tiny taste of what's to come


	7. Chapter 7

The sauce and lemon brew had worked its magic. Neal's cold was gone without a trace of it ever being there. Save for mountains of used tissues in his school bag that he had to empty this morning.

No bus today either. Only a calm walk. Last thing he needed now is a ride full of looks of barely restrained laughter. No doubt the entire town has already seen his yesterday's 'photo session'. Alan's parents offered to drive him to school as his roommate took a bus, but Neal declined politely. He needed a calm walk to brace himself for an increased dose of 'laugh and call names the guy who didn't ask for it'.

Thankfully, he had prepared a full vial of calming potion before leaving. If at some point he was going to get bored of listening to it, another dose would help him ignore it easily. The medicine proved to drown his thoughts, focus and attention quite easily and effectively. Why else would he have tried to help his classmates who didn't deserve any help?

* * *

It was such a huge risk to follow the boy from the forest into the man land. The stone ground, the noise, the foul smelling air. It was horrible. Thankfully, there were trees growing around many of the man made structures. Perfect places to stay out of preying eyes.

His mental walls were strong. An indication of great strength. Not only that, but a constant fog surrounded his inner thoughts. Even if it were to pierce the thick mental walls of his, it would still need to look for specific memories in the fog and who knows how long that would take. But if it could find out who the thief is, it would be worth it. The yellow eyes closed themselves and focused, sharpening a mental blade to pierce through the walls of the boy.

* * *

Neal swayed in his step and braced himself against a nearby tree. A sudden headache and dinizess assaulted him. But not the good kind, like from his potion. It was the bad kind, where the world spun and his head felt like bell that has been rung. "Whoa! O-okay now."

He still needed to attend the classes no matter what. Enough of feign sickness and elaborate excuses. Perhaps another, bigger swing of his potion would numb the headache?

* * *

Laughing faces with fingers pointed. Wrong memory. A foul smell of beverage and smoke. Wrong. A tree with its bark broken in the middle of forest and lots of pain. Wrong again! Faces of fear and anger. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Finding that specific memory in a sea of fog was proving to be a challenge.

It reached out with its small, green and wrinkling hands again. This memory was more clear than the rest. It was recent, crystal clear too, which meant it was important. A room full of books. A girl of animal descent with a strangely thin and snow white body. A quickly beating heart.

Wrong, but closer. Few more attempts and it will find what it's looking for. The boy had to have seen the thief. He carried the faintest of her smells. Before it could reach out for another memory, the fog suddenly turned to dark shade of blue and grew thicker. It was impossible to see anything or even breathe properly due to its infatuating nature.

The yellow eyes snapped open and a deep inhale of air could finally be had. Whatever the boy did, made it impossible to look for the thief in his mind. But it'll keep looking until it found its target.

* * *

And he was right! The headache was gone. The world still danced around him, but in a pleasant, happy way. He was happy! He felt happy. Everything was alright now. The grass in the lawns looked fresher, the trees looked healthier, the clouds looked fluffier, the paint on these neighbourhood houses looked brighter. Bullies didn't matter, grades didn't matter, bad people didn't matter. It was just him and the feeling of buzzing sensation of happiness in his heart.

Neal seemingly glided down the sidewalk, ground underneath his feet felt like clouds. He noticed two figures walking in the distance. And they were oh so familiar. A cat and a fish. He giggled at how silly it was. Animals walking on two legs. What was the world coming to?

Only when he skipped closer to the two that he realised who they were. Two faces that he didn't want to see or hear from again. Wait. Why didn't he like them? He did like them! He didn't know why he did, but he did!

His hands landed on both the kids shoulders, eliciting strangled gasps of surprise. "Stranger danger!" Yelled the orange fish and elbowed Neal in the gut. It felt like a love tap more than anything but it did serve its purpose in making him step back.

Darwin and Gumball both turned around, expecting some form of a huge person with a ski mask and spoon in hand. But when they noticed that it was Neal, their scared looks had relaxed into neutral grimaces. They didn't last long as Gumball forced a smile and said to his brother, "I knew they didn't have it in them. See, Darwin? Everything worked out better than you expected."

Not even a 'Hello!' from the blue cat. How unfortunate, Neal thought. Manners were important. As is not talking about a person who was right there. But he could overlook this, they were friends after all!

"Darwin! That's your name! Sorry! I keep forgetting all the time!" Neal spoke up with a bright smile before Darwin could answer his brother. Neal then turned to Gumball, "And you must be that Sonic guy, right? I could've sworn he was more...spiky." Neal roughly patted Gumballs head with both hands as if looking for something sharp in his fur.

"Actually, my name is Gumball." He deadpanned and swatted his hands away. What was up with him today? And did Pudding really didn't know their names? How? Him and Darwin were supposed to be the first one's he learned of and noticed upon coming here. How could he not? They were awesome and most likely we'll known by everyone.

Neal laughed, finding the way his blue buddy said the sentence quite hilarious. "Hahahaa! Gumball, Sonic, Rainbow Dash, what's the difference? You're all blue and so adorable!"

Now he was just spouting nonsense. And what was that last person? It didn't matter. Pudding was acting way too differently since yesterday. Or perhaps he wasn't? Neither Gumball or Darwin were sure about it as they never talked with him that much. "Wow, I guess those guys really didn't make you cry all that much." Gumball addressed him with a dry tone and a critical eye. Pudding didn't look like he was trashed brutally, like a certain cat had expected and secretly hoped for.

"Why would anyone make me cry? If you expect more from people than their worst, the world will be so much better. For everyone!" Neal beamed with the happiest, overexcited voice ever. Outshining even those happy kids on Christmas advertisements.

He was acting super friendly, energetic and now, optimistic? That's Gumballs shtick! He needed to put Pudding in his place, "Look, buddy. There's enough room for only one main character in this town. I don't know what it is that you're doing now, but you better stop. There can only be one and that position is already taken."

"Awh. That's sad. I wanted to be the optimistic, friendly, happy go lucky guy who helps people."

"Dude, that's literally mine and Darwin's thing. Get your own thing to do."

"Maybe we can help him find it?" Darwin suggested. But Gumball quickly sushed his brother and shaked his head rapidly.

"Every spot is already taken. He doesn't need to know this, but he's already got a destiny here." Gumball whispered to his brother, leaving Neal to glance between them curiously, "A person in the crowd."

"Well isn't that absolutely cute? You think the world revolves around you~!" Neal spoke up and draped his hands over their shoulders.

"It kinda does." Darwin agreed wholeheartedly.

"Yeah, it really does. I'm not even surprised about that.." Gumball admitted. It was weird sometimes, but that's how the things worked around here.

"Well, times are changing~!" Neal sing songed and showed them his phone. "Have you been on the Internet recently? Everyone loves me now."

"Wha? How!?" Gumball all of a sudden felt like he missed something. He directed his attention to the phones screen.

"The pictures. They took lots of them." Neal responded. Elmore plus, fifteen new pictures posted by 'FranklinNr1Jay'. And the post was trending. Seriously, what is up with this town? When he took a better look, it was trending because many of Franklin kids reposted it. And the pictures from yesterday, while not the best, certainly put him on the spot. The snot running down his nose and watery eyes. Not to mention him being used as horseback riding practice.

Neal picked up on snickering behind his back. Gumball and Darwin had seen it all and quickly gained some distance to try and stop themselves from doubling over with laughter. The pictures were pretty humours in their opinion.

It looked like Pudding had the wrong idea here. He completely misunderstood the meaning of those pictures and the intentions of the Franklin kids. While it did bring a lot of embarrassment to the school in general, it was even worse for Pudding.

Gumball finally took a deep breath and addressed Neal, "Well, we're going to go this way." He gestured for Darwin to come along, "You should go that way." He added while pointing to the other side of the street.

"Okay, will do! See you in class!" Neal replied and skipped along to the other side of the street.

When the two brothers continued on their journey to school, Darwin looked at his brother, one question weighing on his mind, "Dude, why are you such a jerk to him?"

Gumball simply shrugged in response, "Eh, he hangs out with Alan. Plus, he's annoying."

* * *

The smell of thief! It was stronger on those two! But since they stood so close to one and other, guessing who carried the the stronger smell was hard. Leaving the blonde boy alone, it decided to try the blue one first.

It didn't even need to attack his mental barriers. There were literally none to begin with.

Walking right in, an annoying sigh was had at the mind of the cat. Memories dumped in one massive pile. Whoever this cat was, he was a massive idiot. Who would pile their memories like that? It wasn't going to be easy finding the required memory in a dump like that. A dark red light and blowing wind caught its attention.

Bunch of flaming hearts swirled around like tornado. Above the flaming vortex, there was a single word floating in the air. 'Penny'.

…

Yeah, this cat definitely wasn't worth the headache. And he didn't look like he was the one either. No air of danger around him, pure childish innocence and brightness. Unlike the previous boy, this one didn't look like he would know the thieving being. Which meant that the strong smell was radiating from the fish!

* * *

"Wait." Darwin suddenly said as Gumball reached for the door handles of the school door. "I feel like someone is watching us.." Darwin muttered and looked around the front of the school. There was nobody there. All the chatter and clutter came from the inside of the school. No students, no passing cars were seen on the outside of the school.

Gumball, playing along with his brother, looked around as well, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. "You're imagining things again. Come on, you don't want to be late again, do you?" Gumball urged him on. If they came late to class again, Miss Simian would sentence them to weeks of detention.

With the uneasiness of being watched, Darwin begrudgingly followed after his brother, sometimes still casting a weary glance over his shoulder.

-After the first class-

"So that's the stitch. Think you can scope this out for me, brutha?" Tobias asked while leaning against the lockers and striking a cool pose.

"Okay, first off, stop that." Gumball didn't ask, but demanded.

Tobias raised his eyebrow at him, "Stop what?"

"This way of speaking." Gumball said as clearly as he could, "Second, you want us to spy on Masami? Why?"

"I'm going to try and ask her out. Again. But I gotta know if she's single. I'll owe you guys one if you do this solid for me. "

"There it was again! Did you see that!?" Darwin shaked Gumball by the shoulder and pointed at the corner of the hallway.

Gumball sighed and ignored him. Throughout the entire English class, Darwin was very jumpy in his seat, his eyes kept darting around the classroom and Miss Simian had to shush him more than once when he told Gumball that he saw something dart past the class windows.

"What's up with Darwin?" Tobias asked.

"He thinks someone is stalking him. Probably Sarah is up to no good again." Gumball patted his brother on the head to calm him down a little, "Dude, I told you. We'll go talk to her in a moment. If we can actually catch her in the act."

Gumball then returned to the point at hand, "Anyways. Tobias, my man, why can't we just go ask her if she's single?" It just didn't make any sense for them to spy on her. This could be solved so easily. "Why must we do all this spy stuff?"

"She'll know that something is up! If someone walks up to you and asks if you're single, you automatically know that they're asking for a friend!" Tobias explained like it was the most obvious thing ever. And he didn't want to make a fool of himself like the last time. If Masami isn't single, he could just try with another girl.

"Yeah, I guess." When Gumball gave it some thought, it did make sense. "Well, spies are pretty cool. Alright, leave this to detectives Gumball and Darwin. Right buddy?" He playfully nudged Darwin on the shoulder, making the little fish jump in response.

"Wha..? Oh, yeah, yeah. Absolutely!" Darwin replied like he barely paid attention. He was still focused on his other problem more than whatever this was turning out to be. Some kind of spy mission? Spies were cool in his opinion.

"Then I'll wait for your report, guys!" Tobias bid them farewell and went to gather information if any of the other girls were single. Just in case.

"Okay, now let's take care of our stalker problem." Gumball said with a pound of his fist against fist. "And if Sarah doesn't stop when we ask nicely this time…" He thought for a moment what could they possibly do.

"Then, what?" Darwin asked while uncomfortably fidgeting around.

Gumball smiled with a plan already formed in his mind, "Well, it's elementary, my dear Darwin. We'll re-direct her to stalk someone else."

"Ah! Get her to change her target! That's honestly good."

"Thank you! Now let's go and find her."

Finding Sarah while she was in her stalker mode was proving to be no easy task. They scouted the halls and classrooms for her. But their search returned no result. This only served to further back up their suspicions. Sarah was the one after them. Again.

"Okay..this is pointless." Gumball exhaled tiredly. After tenth consecutive classroom checked, he was beginning to doubt that they'll ever find her. Perhaps a change in tactics was in order.

"Hmmm..did we check the girls bathroom?" Darwin asked. It would be the most obvious place to look too, but who knows, maybe that's where she was hiding.

"Dude. No, just, no." Gumball shot him down before Darwin could solidify the idea of checking the girls bathrooms. That was just begging for trouble. Just as he was about to think of what to use as a scapegoat to bait Sarah into coming out, they saw her walking down the stairs into the first floor of the school. "Wait! There she is!"

"Sarah! Wait up!" Gumball called out to her, and the ice-cream girl stopped and looked at them with a welcoming smile.

"Hey guys, what's up?" She said as they ran up to her. Her smile faltered a little when she noticed their frowns.

"Don't try to act like you don't know anything. We know you're up to your old habits again." Gumball instantly went to accusations. Who else other Sarah would be so obsessed with them to the point of stalking?

"I know you like stalking and stuff, but this is just downright creepy. Could you please just don't do it? At least until next week?" Gumball asked nicely. He already had enough on his plate. What with his promise to Penny to be there during her practice, and trying to squeeze in some time to hang out with Darwin during recess and evenings.

"I wasn't stalking you guys. I rarely do that anymore." Sarah slowly said. She didn't know what they were talking about here.

Gumball didn't have a single reason not to believe her as even now, when taking a look at Darwin, he still occasionally glanced over his shoulder. "What? If you aren't, then who is?"

"I don't know." She shrugged in response. "Anyways, Ocho and I are planning on going to the arcade after school. You guys want to come too?" Sarah offered. After all, the more the merrier.

"Thanks, but no, thanks." Gumball replied quickly. Ocho was always a little intense when it came to, well, everything. Which naturally made Gumball want to avoid him most of the time. "We'll see you later, Sarah."

Their ice-cream classmate waved them goodbye as they left to take care of their business. Darwin still remained extremely jumpy and paranoid. Gumball didn't want to ignore his brothers worry, but it really looked like he was just imagining things.

During the next class, things didn't change. Third class, things were the same. Lunch break, the same. It looked like the more time passed, the worse Darwin's paranoia was becoming. Even Gumball was beginning to get freaked out a little, like seeing things that weren't there. Thankfully, Darwin managed to focus up for their espionage into the girls locker room. Masami had went into the locker room to look for something that she forgot and that's when the two boys, dressed as ninjas, snuck inside.

Gumball had checked Masamis phone when she was busy rummaging in her locker. No private messages from any type of guys other than her friends. Tobias will certainly like the news. On top of that, he will owe them a big favour for this type of dangerous assignment.

But after the thrill of the spy mission, Darwin went back to acting like a startled rabbit. His paranoia had reached its peak during their fourth class, chemistry.

At the time, all of the class was silently mixing various chemicals and writing down their reactions. The same couldn't be said about the poor fish, who was barely able to focus on the task at hand. Gumball felt sorry for his brother, of course he did. But there was hardly anything he could do. Heck, Sarah, whom they thought was responsible for this, was currently in their class and absorbed in her assignment. It had to be Darwin's imagination acting up.

William was flying past them, and the tip of his feathery wings accidentally brushed along Darwin's back. And his reaction was very loud. He turned around with his eyes closed, shrieking like a banshee and flung the vial he held in his hand at the invisible assailant. Several students shook from the high pitched squeal, which caused them to mess up their work.

"Dude! Darwin, chill!" Gumball grabbed his brother by the hand tightly. Now that was unexpected and very concerning. Thankfully no one was hurt by his outburst. Except maybe their work, many glares were directed at the two kids.

"Oh man. S-sorry, everyone." Darwin sheepishly said. That was one stupid action on his part. It's a good thing no one was hit. Where did that vial even go.

"Ow, Ow, Ow!" Someone whined pathetically behind them. Many eyes fell on the person in question behind them.

"Oh no." Did someone actually got hit? Oh he was in so much trouble right now. He could already hear principal Brown howling his lungs out at him. Worst of all, possible scenarios of what punishment he would receive were quickly conjured up. Detention? Suspension? Hanged by his toes? No, that's too mediaeval. Still, it felt like his legs froze in place.

He slowly followed where everyone was looking at the unfortunate victim of his outburst. Great, even better. Standing behind them, his hand on his neck, was Neal. Apparently, the vial landed on his table, it didn't break, but it spilled all over his notes. The substance was slightly acidic. Which immediately turned his notes into a smoking, wet mess. From the way he was clutching his neck, it seemed a drop or two landed on his neck too. While he wasn't crying his eyes out or screaming, he definitely was hurt.

The fact that Darwin hurt someone made him feel sick in the stomach. "Pud...ugh..Nate! I'm so sorry!" He said and ran to check if he was okay.

"It's alright..I'll live." Neal grunted out while trying and failing to spot himself from whining. As Darwin approached him, Neal took a step back, which made Darwin even more sad.

Their chemistry teacher, who was an old, overgrown mosquito with black mustache looked at them with a tired sigh. Those darn kids will be the end of him. "Can someone take him to the nurses office?" He said, barely paying attention to them as he found his newspaper more interesting than teen drama.

Everyone stayed silent. It wasn't worth getting involved with a joke. Darwin, of course, raised his hand. What he did was truly uncalled for and just bad in general. But their teacher wasn't going to pick him. He scanned the room for any other raised hands. There was one more.

"Teri! Good. Take h-" He stopped himself quickly. Wasn't that the student that the nurse always complained about? The one who always thought she was sick with something on daily basis? "Wait, are you going to take him there because you want to, or do you think that you're sick again?"

Her hand faltered a little, but she shaked her head in response. "No, I will just take him there."

"Alright, go. Everyone else, continue your work." leaned back in his chair, but before continuing reading his paper, he added, "In silence."

Darwin watched the two kids leave the classroom with a pathetically sad look of a kicked puppy. Gumball had walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, man. You didn't mean any harm."

* * *

The door to the nurses office was locked. Which meant she was out somewhere. Which left the two kids without knowing what to do. So they waited near the office for her return. The atmosphere was awkward. Neither one of them knew what to say to one and other, so they picked a spot to stare at and stay silent. With Neal being made into the biggest laughing stock of the school and probably the city, he didn't even dare to speak up anymore.

A passing group of students glanced at him and snickered. They mentioned something about Elmore plus while pointing at him. That seemed to make the atmosphere even more awkward between the two.

That is until Teri cleared her throat lightly and said, "You know, it's not that bad."

"What? Oh yeah. I know. Slap a bandaid on it and it'll be okay." Neal said as he poked the red spot on his neck. The pain was slowly going away too.

"No! I'm talking about the…you know." Teri didn't want to say it out loud, instead hoping that Neal will understand what she was referring to. And he did. "I didn't find any of the things that happened to you as funny."

He didn't respond. What could he say? That it's not as bad as it looks? He could. But he didn't want to interrupt her.

"I know that it can be hard to get through this sort of thing." She continued after a moment. Teri knew all too well what it's like when people make fun of you. When your own friends make fun of you in this mean spirited way. Her fear of germs, her extreme need to stay clean, and her constant thoughts that she had some new sickness every day had brought that kind of ridicule on her. It was done in her face at first, but then, it became worse. It happened behind her back.

"I know what it's like when you are mocked for being who you are. Or just for the things that are out of your control." How painfully on point she was. Neal didn't do anything or say anything to deserve bullying. Yet there it was, half the town laughing at him for the things that few jerks did to entertain themselves.

"This pain here-" She shyly placed her hand on his chest, right over his heart, "will not stay long. Trust me."

Maybe not everyone here was a monster. Those kind words, they meant so much. He was at a loss of what to say for a moment. Eventually, Neal smiled genuinely, "Thank you."

-During last free period-

"Honestly, I don't know what came over me." Darwin said and rested his forehead on his arms. He felt so bad.

"Happens to the best of us. Don't worry about it. He's all good." Gumball assured his brother to the best of his ability. "Maybe you're seeing things because you're tired?" He wondered out loud.

"No, not really." Darwin said after giving it some thought. He always went to sleep at the same time as Gumball. He ate the same meals too. So there couldn't be any influence from those two things. "There it is again." Darwin said as a chill ran down his spine. He felt like a pair of eyes were on him. He wanted to look behind again, but he refused to do so. It was enough of playing into this dangerous feeling of his.

"Hmm...maybe this is something outside of our control?" Gumball said eventually.

"What do you mean?" His brother suddenly sat up in his seat. Did Gumball figure something out?

"I mean, I can't see it. You keep seeing..what exactly?"

"Small, quick shadows jumping from corner to corner. But only at times." Darwin tried to describe it as best as he could. He only saw them three times today. Once during class, in he hallway when talking to Tobias, and before chemistry class.

"Yeah, doesn't that sound otherworldly to you?" Gumball pointed it out. Barely visible shadows that stalked you? Yeah, it was definitely supernatural.

"Yeah. When I think about it, it does!" Darwin said with a brightening smile. Perhaps this problem could be rid off after all.

"So go see Carrie after class." Gumball suggested to him. Darwin's girlfriend dealt with all things unnatural, so she was bound to know what was ailing his brother.

"You know what, I will do that. I was planning on going to see her anyways. She didn't come to school today." Darwin replied with a little of his worry subsiding.

"Right. And don't worry dude. You know how these things usually go. Everything always turns out better then expected for us."

-Meanwhile, in the schools hallway-

Neal took a keen interest in Teri. Before, she did appear in his thoughts once or twice because of how adorable she was, but now..how could he not? She was the first and the only one who helped him out. She didn't make humiliating jokes at his expense, didn't laugh at his embarrassing pictures online. She even related to him! A guy who was being avoided and treated like a joke no matter how nice he was.

After their conversation and the nurses visit, he noticed just how much of a good person she was. Despite her scaring away from all things dirty to the point of extreme and her need to stay clean 24/7, she was amazing.

In the hall, when Tobias had tripped and scraped his knee, Teri was the one ready to help him with a bandaid. Despite his constant, obnoxious attempts to sway the girls and trying to act cool, she still helped him, no questions asked. When Clayton was going to eat an unwashed apple, she strictly told him to go wash it, otherwise he might get sick. When Rocky had mopped the floors, she was the one standing by the lockers and telling people to walk carefully, throughout the entire free period.

She wasn't being annoying. She wasn't being bossy. Teri was being protective, over everyone. She extended her care and kindness to everyone. To those who didn't deserve it and outright talked smack about her behind the back. Most of the time, no one even paid attention to her efforts.

Although, she could go without all those critical comments before, or after helping them. Or the sass. Or acting like she knew everything in regards to safety and hygiene. Teri, was outright charming in quite every way possible.

And...why was he fidgeting with his glasses and peeking over the corner just to catch a glance of her? "_Go start a conversation with her! C'mon, it's the last free period. Do it! Do it!_" Neal tried talking himself into it, but he just couldn't move his legs. Was he really being shy? He was able to talk to her on two occasions without problem and now?

No matter what, he couldn't gather enough courage to strike up a conversation with her before the bell of the last class had rung. With a dejected sigh, he promised to himself that he will try again real soon.

-After the last class-

Once the school was out, Gumball wished Darwin good luck and made a beeline towards the schools stadium where the cheerleading practice was being held.

Darwin, left on his own, awaited for the bus to come. He still felt it even now. Eyes on his back, observing his every move. He shook as a wave of chills ran down his body. Hopefully, Carrie will be able to provide insight on what was happening to him.

* * *

It was time! The fish was travelling towards the thief. Soon, really soon, it will have it back. Tree from tree, lightning fast jumps with the perfect acrobatic execution, it was keeping up with the yellow box on wheels. Not once did it loose the sight of the fish through its windows. He was traveling towards the thief. It just knew it. He had to be, the smell on him was unmistakable.

* * *

Carrie was jamming out to some rock music, bobbing her head rapidly to the brutal guitar solos blaring out through her CD player. Only when her grandma - who was a literal hand of a ghost with painted red nails- came and caught her attention, did she lowered the volume of her music.

"What is it, grandma?" Carrie asked with a relaxed huff. And the song was getting to the good part too.

With multiple taps of her fingers, her grandma told her that there was someone at the door.

"Right, I'll get it." Carrie said and shut off the CD player completely. She sunk through the floor of her room, ending up right in the living room. Did their ceilings always had that much cobwebs and dust?

Carrie heard multiple, quick knocks. Whoever it was, the person was in a hurry. She wanted to hang around for a little while longer to see how much more would the person in question knock before giving up. But alas, that would be just rude.

She opened the door and an orange hand sunk through her face as it was incoming for another knock. Thankfully she hadn't made herself solid after phasing through the floor.

"Eep! Carrie! I'm so sorry!" She saw her most favourite living being of orange colour. And he looked very out of it. "Man, what is wrong with me today!?" Darwin said to himself with a terse ring in his voice.

"I didn't feel anything, don't worry." She said quickly to keep him from hating on himself. "Hey, Darwin."

"Hi, hi! Carrie, I have a big problem there's this shadowy thing that follows me and I hurt Neil then bunch of people got angry and I've been sacred all day now and I need to-"

"Shhh!" Carrie placed her hand on his mouth to silence him for a moment and to let her speak. "Breathe, Darwin. I can't understand anything when you pour words like water." She then invited him inside and sat him down on one of the ancient couches from the Victorian times.

She noticed just how out of it her boyfriend was. Drops of sweat were rolling down his forehead, his eyes kept darting from side to side as if looking for something, and he was shaking like a leaf. "Alright, now tell me what's wrong. Slowly." Carrie instructed while gently hugging him around his shoulders to calm him down.

Darwin told her everything. About his paranoia that suddenly made itself known since morning. About how he was feeling like being watched and how he saw small shadows jumping from corner to corner.

After he was done talking, Carrie remained silent as she was deep in thought. It did sound like it was something not out of this world. "You're probably being haunted. That or in the process of being possessed." She finally concluded.

"Well, at least we're moving forward with this mystery." Darwin replied silently, making Carrie giggle in response. Always the optimist. "But by what?" Darwin asked with a shaky voice. Was it a deceased relative? Perhaps an angry spirit of a family pet who was long gone?

Carried took Darwin by the hand and lead him upstairs into her room. "We'll find out soon enough. Come on, I'll perform an exorcism first. If that doesn't work, there are other methods too." She re-assured him with a grin. There was no possible way that Carrie was going to let some nasty little spirit haunt her boyfriend. If anything, that was her job.

Not wanting to stay awkwardly silent, Darwin tried to make a conversation happen. That and he wanted to get his mind off of this ordeal for a short while. "Your dad isn't home today?" He finally asked when they came into her room.

"Nah, he's working. Haunting a lighthouse." Carrie replied while getting set up for the session.

Darwin nodded in understanding, "How thematically appropriate." Carrie's dad did look like a sailor, so it was pretty appropriate for him to haunt a lighthouse. That or an old ship. "Oh, by the way. Where's your pet pedant?"

"Grakath? It's locked up in-" Before she could finish, her grandma crawled into her room and greeted Darwin, who politely waved back.

Carrie's grandma then asked if they wanted any cookies with milk, to which Carrie just shook her head. After her grandma left, Carrie was already done with the preparations. "Alright. Let's begin."

-One super long exorcism later-

"Well, do you feel any better?" Carrie asked hopefully.

"N-no." Darwin shook as another wave of chills ran down his spine.

"Hmm. Maybe casting a protective ward would do the trick." Carrie murmured to herself as she floated underneath her bed and pulled out her book of spells.

"Am I just going crazy?" Darwin asked with a shaky huff. Even if his girlfriend couldn't find out what was wrong, perhaps he was?

Carrie's smile softened as she tried to comfort her little sunshine with a light kiss to his cheek, "No, no! Absolutely not. Come on now, we'll find who's the mean little parasite that's stalking you and put it six feet under."

Darwin immediately felt so much better. If only he could love her even more than he already did, which was a lot. He didn't even know if there was a word to describe how much he actually loved her. Before he could say anything, it happened again. A small shadow zipped across the room, from underneath Carrie's desk, to her drawers. "THERE!" Darwin jumped to his feet and pointed at where it disappeared.

"I saw it too!" Carrie confirmed his suspicions and floated a little higher into the air to have a better look at it. It was a small animal of sorts. It moved really fast. Not that big neither. All covered in dark grey fur, with small, green feet. No, it wasn't fur, it was a cape with a hood. The body of the creature was humanoid, green skin. Its chest was wrapped with strips of animal hide as was were it's hips. So it wasn't a he, but a she. The little creature looked like one of those shamans from the fantasy games that Carrie played. "How did it even get in here?"

After being spotted, the goblin, or maybe a gremlin, stopped in its tracks. In doing so, it fully exposed itself to the eyes of the curious kids.

"What? This little thing is what spooked me all day long?" Darwin couldn't believe it himself. At first he was shocked, then a little angry. Now he was just embarrassed. He was brought near tears by this little thing. Not to mention, Carrie probably thought of him as a massive dummy.

"To be honest, it doesn't even look that scary." His girlfriend floated down to join him. The little creature stayed frozen in place and didn't dare to move anymore, much like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Awh, now I feel dumb." Darwin face-palmed. Really? It wasn't even remotely threatening. "I bet it followed me because its hungry. Or just wants a friend." He said and began walking towards it.

"No, Darwin! Wait!" Carrie called out to him. They didn't know if it was dangerous or not.

"There's no need to be scared. I mean just look at it! It wouldn't hurt a fly. C'mere buddy, c-"

Before anything else could be said, the little creature rushed at Darwin with unnatural speed. The poor fish screeched out of surprise at getting caught off guard and back pedalled away, but the creature was lightning fast. It jumped on his face and used it as a platform for a kick off.

It's little toes painful dug into his eyes as it launched itself off Darwin, straight at Carrie. The ghost girl reacted a little faster, and teleported out of the way, which put her behind Darwin. The fur clad monster ended up crashing into the wall. Or so she thought. Mid flight, it flipped over, landing feet first into the wall, which it used to spring off of it again.

It came at Carrie like a bullet this time, tackling the girl to the ground, it began to painfully tug her by the hair. "Ow! You little devil!" Carrie tried to get it off her, but it was very agile. She couldn't hit the mark at all no matter how many times she tried to swat it off.

Fortunately, her dearest Darwin came to her rescue with her spell book. He used it as a weapon, slapping the creature away from Carrie with a precise swing. It landed right on her bed and jumped on it's little feet. "Thanks!" Carrie said as Darwin pulled her up.

"Okay, so that's my stalker. It's not friendly at all, and it doesn't like you, for some reason." Darwin summarised while sticking close to Carrie, "But that's weird, why would anyone dislike you?"

"There are a few reasons."

"I don't believe you. You're perfect."

Carrie felt her cheeks light up red. The snarling little demon brought her to reality real quick. "Awh! But now is not the time." She took the spell book from Darwin and hastily flipped through the pages in search for an offensive type of spell to take down the nasty cretin on her bed. And she found one immediately. An incantation was spoken and a ball of swirling, bubbling, green acid formed in her hand.

The creature took a few steps back, as if it understood what Carrie just did.

"Make a move, ugly." Carrie challenged it to attack again. If it was going to, it will deeply regret it. And Darwin just stood there and tried to look intimidating. But with his puffy cheeks, he looked like an upset hamster. Not that threatening.

The monster looked like it reconsidered its choices which in turn made it bolt through the open door of the room.

The kids followed after it, but by the time they reached the first floor, their small guest had already squeezed itself through one of the slightly opened windows.

The couple stared at the windows, expecting for it to come back again. After minutes of intense silence with no snarling monster coming back to attack them, Carrie had finally cancelled her spell and let out a sigh of relief.

"I think we scared it off. For good."

With nobody to stalk him, Darwin finally felt at peace again. He couldn't feel eyes on his back anymore. Which granted him with the amazing feeling of freedom. Finally, after a day long anxiety, he could relax. "Yeah, I don't feel like I'm being observed either." He pulled Carrie into a tight hug while nuzzling her neck out of sheer gratitude, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Carrie tried and failed to keep herself from chuckling. It was so good to see him happy again. "Heh heh! No problem. But you know, you could thank me in a different way." She said with a wink of her eye.

"Hm? How?"

Instead of answering, Carrie placed her lips against Darwin's in a kiss that was hardly a quick, childish peck. It was deeply passionate and lasted more than one second. After they separated, Darwin was left speechless. He tried to say something, but no words could form. Only a big, loopy grin on his burning face. Carrie was much in the same situation as him, the colour of red on her face was even more defined by her otherworldly appearance.

While they shared a loving look, Darwin recalled what his brother said. Everything always did turn out better than expected for them. It always has, and it looked like it always will.

* * *

It underestimated them. The living spirit knew magic and the fish wasn't such a coward after all. After checking underneath the roots of the tree, it spat on the ground angrily. The location of the precious power was changed. The fishes memories were outdated. Not to mention, it was impossible to read the memories of the spirit.

But that mattered little. With the location known, it wouldn't take much to gain the whereabouts of the power from the thieving spirit. The question was, how to accomplish it? First, wait for a perfect opportunity to strike and instil fear into the thieving spirit and her guardian fish. There should be many others around to cause enough chaos. Civilizations feared chaos. How could one of such small size cause chaos? By starting a war. A sharp toothed grin flashed in the shadows of the hood.

It needed an army.

-End of chapter 7-

_Authors note: Let me explain something here. The reason as to why Neal's attitude keeps changing is because the potion effects aren't permanent. They start wearing off eventually, hence the changes in his behaviour._


	8. Chapter 8

The bell had rung, signaling the end of the last class. It was time for everyone to return home. Some kids of course have to take alternative, longer routes due to Franklin students camping out at the corners of the street. The closer the day of the game got, the more dangerous the streets have become. Some of the kids already fell victim to the pranks. Their houses had eggs thrown at them. Graffiti was spray painted on the walls, displaying rude imagery and curse words.

One of such kids was Anton. A walking piece of toast. His parents were so sad, brought to tears, when in the morning, they noticed the state their home was in after a Franklin raid.

And he wasn't the only one in their class that suffered for that. Clayton. Molly. Bobert. Their homes were vandalised too. Of course, Elmore Police department was useless like always. Without concrete evidence, they couldn't do anything.

And the atmosphere during the classes and in the halls was very different now. So many people were getting hurt, but no one dared to speak up. Either with words or through Internet. Most kids were intimidated by the tenuous physical power that Franklin held over them. They even had a network of connections that could easily trace the person who is running their mouth. And their only salvation from this oppression was the football finale.

If their school were to win, maybe Franklin would see that they're not the complete losers that they thought. Maybe the bullying would stop. But alas, all their bets were on the 'maybe' part.

As the hallways filled up with kids who hurried home, two kids stood by the lockers and waited for the traffic to settle down a little. "Gumball, doesn't everyone look kinda sad to you?" Darwin said upon noticing just how many people had depressing faces.

"Now that you mention it, yeah, they do." It didn't take a lot to see that many children were worried about something. Perhaps the upcoming football game had everyone's stomach in a twist? It is going to be a pretty big moment for Elmore junior high if they do pull a victory. He hadn't even realised that his school valued sports that much. "Well, everything will be back to normal in two days. You'll see." Gumball said as they they began their trip home.

When they walked out the doors of the school into the ever fresh air of the outside, they came to a surprise sight of Pudding tied to the guardrails of the entrance.

"Could you guys, help me out a little?" He asked sheepishly. Few students stood and observed this strange sight with smiles and giggles. At least something funny happened today.

"Eeeeh. How?" Was all that Gumball managed to say. Seriously, how did one would get tied to the front of the school without anyone noticing? This also explained why Pudding wasn't present during math. It was surprising that no one had taken pity on him and set him free. Yet, one wanted to get involved either.

Even more surprising was the fact that Teri pushed past all the students and went to help him out. "How did this happen?" She asked while trying to untie him. Teri didn't even shy away from touching the railing, or the zip ties that were used to keep Neal's arms in place.

"It's a long story that involves the name Julius and a bunch of pranksters." Neal quietly said to her. Why was she helping him, again? Even going to such lengths as touching something that clearly has many germs. "They were just joking around. Nobody got hurt."

"So they thought it'd be funny to tie you to the guardrails and just leave you here?" She asked with an upset tone. She broke her concentration to glance at him for an answer. Neal only replied with a quiet nod.

"Jerks." Teri spat in irritation. Like they didn't have anything better to do than pick on someone weaker than them. She finally managed to untie him from the guardrails. After that, Teri whipped around and transfixed everyone with a stern look, "And what are you all staring at? Huh?! Move along!"

All the kids continued on their way without talking back, there was no need to upset the crazy disinfectant girl. When it seemed that everyone had left, Teri nodded goodbye to Neal and went towards the stadium.

But Neal, gathering that this was somewhat of an appropriate time to chat with her, followed after. "Thank you. Again." He said with a big smile, walking right besides her. His day instantly became so much brighter, mainly because this cutesy, amazing girl took time out of her life to interact with him. With a jumpy heart and shaky voice he continued, "Uhm...is there any way I could thank you?"

Teri paid him an uninterested sideways glance, her eyes slowly falling on his palms. "Yes. Wash your hands." She said professionally. Now why was he following her? She certainly wanted to know the reason behind that 'Why?'.

"Will do!" Neal replied all too quickly. He was too eager to talk to her. But unfortunately, after her telling him to wash his hands, it was the end of that conversation. Cut and dry. And he had hardly any material to work with here. He didn't know much about Teri, but he wanted to. He was pretty sure that she was responsible for the way his chest tightened every time he saw her, which could only mean one thing. He wanted to be friends with her, and perhaps even more. "Then, umm...let me walk you to the stadium." He offered. Perhaps he could strike up a conversation with her before they reach it.

* * *

The ride on the way home was different than usual. There used to more chatter between kids, but now, the bus was eerily quiet. Darwin felt uneasy in this silence. Sitting together with his sister at the back of the bus, he wanted to break this uncomfortable, heavy, graveyard silence.

"So, Anais?"

"Yeah?"

"How are you and Jamie getting along? Is she..I dunno. Good?" Darwin asked, recalling many times that Jamie had bullied everyone -and their short relationship-. Perhaps her heart softened when she became friends with Anais? Jamie had certainly let up on violence since then.

"We're proceeding accordingly to the progress chart that I created." Anais proudly said. They already entered stage two, 'Messages through social media'. With the way things were proceeding, by her estimations, they will reach stage three next week.

"Anais, you can't just measure friendship. I know you're smart and all, but that's just a little too much." Darwin replied with bit of concern. His sister was smart, massively so. But getting technical about friendship was a very silly idea that could backfire. "You can't just proceed through steps to become friends with someone. That's not how it works." Darwin added with pitying frown. Anais was indeed smart, but not when it comes to social situations.

"No. I can put measurements to anything. Besides, you will see for yourself in a few weeks. Me and Jamie will be the bestest friend's by then." Anais felt confident about this graph of hers. And the evidence was there. It was accurate and working.

Darwin didn't really want to give up on teaching his sister better, but the way she was looking at him now, felt like he'll have to lay off and see what happens.

The bus had pulled to their stop. Pretty soon, the two siblings, minus Gumball who went to the stadium again, were walking up the steps of their porch. Something caught Darwin's eye. Their front wall window was busted in the corner. The white boards of their porch had glass littering it.

"What in the world…" Darwin uttered quietly and went inside, followed by Anais.

Their dad sat on the couch, both hands cupping his cheek, which was swollen and blue. The window in their living room was broken. Glass littered the floor all the way to the couch. Their mom, Nicole, was hastily trying to sweep everything up with a broom. She had a furious look on her face.

The kids stood in the doorway, not wanting to step into the glass. And they haven't seen their mother so upset before. "Hey, mom." Anais slowly said, getting Nicole's attention. "What happened here?"

"Some hoodlums thought it would be funny to chuck a rock at our window when passing through." She said with barely restrained anger. "All of them were dressed in red, like some darn gang…" She muttered to herself darkly, "If I ever get my hands on them.."

"And what's wrong with ?" Darwin asked out of concern.

"The rock went through the window and hit him in the cheek. Broke a tooth. Thank god it wasn't something more serious." Nicole said while finishing up the sweeping. She went towards the kitchen to throw out the glass shards into the trash can, "I'm taking him to the dentist, after that, we're going to Elmore PD."

Both, Anais and Darwin went to check on their dad. Poor man couldn't even speak now. The kids hugged their dad with sadness clouding their features. Why would anyone do this?

"Alright. Go brush your teeth. You're coming too." Nicole said while coming out of the kitchen.

"What? Why?" Darwin said while backing up. No, she wasn't going to-

"Well, we would save a lot of gas if you guys got your teeth checked too. We wouldn't need to go there twice." Nicole replied. It's a shame that Gumball wasn't present at the moment. But his trip could be taken care of on a later date.

"Which dentist are we going to?" Anais asked worriedly. If it was the one in Elmore hospital, it would pose no problem -Teri's dad was a dentist there- as he was quite experienced and knew how to deal with such things. But if they were going to go to who she thought, then it wouldn't be the most pleasant of experiences.

" . Cheap service, good care." Nicole replied and went to grab her purse.

All colour drained from the three Wattersons. was horrifying. Not only was he a bad dentist -hence the cheap costs-, but he also took great joy in delivering pain to everyone who came to get their teeth fixed. Or checked.

Before they could go running, Nicole had returned from the room, purse in hand. "Alright, no time for brushing teeth. Let's go before the office closes."

Richard wanted to protest. He could suffer through the pain, no problem. He would just use his other side of the mouth to chew. But it was very difficult for him to voice his thoughts at the moment, so without getting a chance, he and the kids were dragged towards the car.

-The centre of Elmore, Commercial district-

Steel benches of dark green laid against pure white walls. The floor tiles, light green with flower patterns. There was a faint smell of mouthwash in the room that always seemed to linger no matter how many times the front door was opened. There were only two two doors in the room, one lead outside, and the other, into the terror that was dental care office. A nurses window was also present near the office doors. The nurse itself was an old, walking bottle of toothpaste. Which is an appropriate position for her, if it weren't for all the horrendous screaming coming from the patients.

The door once again opened, and the smell of mouthwash welcomed four arrivals. Richard reluctantly stepped inside, looking around like a startled rabbit that he was, followed by Nicole and two of her worried kids.

"Richard, go sit down with the kids. I'll get us in line." Nicole said and went to the nurses window.

Darwin, Richard and Anais sat on a nearby bench and quietly whispered to one and other about what sort of horrors they will experience, making Richard even more terrified of the upcoming experience.

When Nicole approached the window, she noticed a familiar figure sitting besides it. A woman of orange colour, round eyes and an air of sophistication around her. Besides her sat her son, a blue child, in a form of an egg. Billy, whom was going to be good friends with Anais, if it weren't for their different tastes in..what was it again? Cartoons? Nicole couldn't remember. But she did know one thing. She didn't like his mother, Felicity.

And as luck would have it, she sat right there. With an uptight tone, she spoke up when she noticed Nicole and her family. "Ah. Wattersons."

"Felicity." Nicole greeted curtly.

"Taking your lump of unemployment for a drill trip?" Felicity said with a cold tone upon regarding Richard with a critical eye. What a pile of undignified individuals. They didn't even bother dressing up for a day in the town.

"Funny. Are you going to ask Mister Grin how to get rid of your bad coffee breath?" Nicole fired back with an equally freezing tone.

It looked like the two women were going to go at each others throats. Thankfully, the nurse had opened her mouth anything could happen. "Here to sign up?"

"Ah, yes.." Nicole stepped towards the window, paying one final glare to Felicity, who answered with an uptight head turn.

* * *

Richard was the first to go in. As he was seated in the cold, hard chair in the office, the light of the ever luminescent light shining down on him, he wondered, how much will this really hurt. It couldn't be that bad. Surely the kids were exaggerating the dentist. There was no way he was that terrifying. Great, all this worrying made him hungry. Even more hungry because he couldn't eat for almond the entire morning now.

Out of the doors leading to the private quarters of the building, came out the person who was going to fix Richard's broken tooth.

He was a clown. An actual clown with cyan paint on his face, dressed in a white doctor's coat. Rainbow afro and a big, round, red, squeaky nose. But scariest of all, were his massive teeth, they were polished so much that they reflected everything like mirrors. His mouth was locked in a constant, horrendously twisted smile that displayed those mirror like teeth.

Upon putting on green latex gloves, the dentist turned plopped on the revolving chair near Richard, and spun round to face his patient. Richards horrified face reflected off of his massive, perfect teeth. "Hello, Mister Richard~" He spoke without moving his jaw. "Ready for some ROOT CANAL drilling?" The clown cackled madly at how fear stricken Richard was becoming. The dentist took a miniature drill from the tool tray, a syringe full of painkillers, and slowly parted the rabbits mouth. "Say, AAAAAAH!"

* * *

"AAAAAAHHH!"

"Mama, some girl is in trouble!" Billy said to his mother upon hearing the shrill scream coming from the dentist's office. Felicity had a giggle at how 'manly' Nicole's husband was sounding. Especially in front of his own kids.

-an hour later-

The kids had absolutely nothing to do. And how long does it take to fix a broken tooth? Darwin wanted to know the answer for when the next time he was going to go to a dentist. He could've brought an extra comic or two. And Anais wished she had brought her homework with her. Mainly because there was nothing to do in the boring lounge but sit and wait, and wait.

Eventually, the doors to the office opened again, and Richard slowly stumbled out. wasn't just skilled. He was a magician with the drill and pliers. The tooth was removed, zero pain, the gums weren't even painfully scraped once -unlike with the dentists in the hospital-, and best of all, he gave Richard a lollipop. Although, he seemed to be highly dazed. It was probably from the painkillers received.

After Nicole sat him down, it was Darwin's turn. But no amount of convincing made him go inside alone, so his mother had to come along too and hold his hand.

Despite looking like some character straight out of an 80's horror movie, he was skilled. They were done with the check up in one minute.

When they came out of the office, Nicole noticed one thing. Richard was missing.

"Anais!" Nicole hurriedly ran up to her youngest child, "Where's Richard?!"

Anais glanced with a questioningly at her mom. She was counting the floor tiles out of boredom, her dad was right besides her, where Nicole put him. However, one look to the left said otherwise. He was indeed nowhere to be seen. "Wha..!? He was right here just a second ago!"

"How could a man of that size disappear so quickly!?" Darwin asked out sheer amazement.

"C'mon. We have to find him before he gets in trouble." Nicole said and they rushed out the door.

The commercial district of Elmore was as busy with life as ever. Streets were never sleeping here as hundreds of people hurried about their daily lives. Buildings were littered with big and colourful advertisements. There were even few massive buildings that resembled skyscrapers. Two most notable ones were of Chanax and Yoshidas ownership. With Chanax one facing Yoshidas across the district.

The family of three hurried down the street in search of their missing family member. But through the crowds of people, it was hard to spot him. Darwin helped Anais climb a lamppost for better visibility. Yet she didn't spot a single person resembling their dad. Even by current American standards, Richard was huge. He would've stood out in the crowd like a sore thumb.

After Anais climbed down the lamppost and shake her head, all of them shared a collective sigh of disappointment. "Where could he have gone?" Darwin asked sadly.

"Wait. When did dad get hit with the rock?" Anais asked, only now remembering one major point about their father.

Nicole recalled when it happened. It was a little after the kids left to the school. "Early in the morning. He couldn't even eat pro..per..ly..oh no." Nicole realised that Richard was unsupervised and hungry. Very hungry.

* * *

An old car of pale green pulled up to the Joyful Burger front. Nicole rushed into the building, only to witness chaos. There was tomato sauce and mustard splattering the walls and ground. Most of the customers were either scared, or confused by what happened.

"Larry! What happened?" Nicole asked upon running up to the counter. "And was my husband here?"

Larry dropped his broom and slammed his hands on the counter with a furious look. "Yeah! Of course he was! Who do you think caused this mess!?"

"Oh. Sorry. Do you know where he went?"

"No idea, probably to another Joyful Burger joint." Larry responded while sweeping up the mess on the floors. He saw Nicole rushing for the door, and immediately attempted to stop her with a shout, "Hey! Aren't you going to pay for what he-!"

And she was gone. A bill to their house will be in order then. With a sour scowl, Larry returned to cleaning the floors

* * *

Fries, hamburgers, sausages, ketchup, soda. Oh it all tasted so amazing. This kitchen had everything and then some! Shame about all those cooks and waiters trying to stop him from eating. And now, he was feeling really tired. It was time for a little nap.

* * *

The chief cook, a middle aged rooster dressed in a white apron rushed into the worker langue where waiters and kitchen helpers were having a break. He breathing heavily, a drops of sweat glistened against his feathers. He began flapping his wings around and yelling, "We require reinforcements! Code pink! I repeat, CODE PINK!"

Around ten people ran into the kitchen. All was gone. Meat, buns, fries. Even uncooked potatoes and salads and sauces.

And besides one opened freezer, laid the cause of this emptiness. A big, pink rabbit with his shirt unbuttoned for his massive gut to have more space.

"Your meat devouring days are over, demon!" The chief yelled while holding a spatula in front of himself like a sword.

Richard snorted awake. He fell asleep after his eating trip. Wait. How did he end up here? Wasn't he in dentists office not a second ago? And why did he feel so, full? "Uh..where am I?" An army of pissed off people dressed in all white and armed with kitchen tools. Now that was concerning. Richard pulled himself up and dusted off his pants. "H-hey guys. What's up? Oh, what's that nice smell?" Was he in a kitchen? It certainly smelt like that.

"Shut up heathen! You will pay for everything that you devoured!" The chief said with evident anger. If the pink lard won't pay, they will make him pay in another way.

Richard checked his pockets. He didn't have any money. He never had any money. He didn't even own a wallet. "Sorry, I didn't bring any." Richard shrugged with an innocent look. "M-maybe we can w-work this out, eh, fellas?"

"Get that monster!" All ten of them jumped Richard, whom rolled over the kitchen counters, which proved to be a dumb idea because his shirt got caught on the corner and got torn to asunder. But, he did end up on the other side, closer to the exit and away from the cooks who wanted to cook him, probably.

He then immediately ran for the exit. Man, what a day. He got hit by a rock, went to the dentist, woke up in a Joyful Burger without any memory of going there, with a full stomach, lost his shirt, and now, he was running from cooks.

* * *

The nearest Joyful Burger was not too far. And knowing her lazy husband, that's where he headed to. Perhaps he was already there and wreaking havoc? Nicole shifted into another gear and sped down the road. They needed to hurry, or else, with Richard going on an eating rampage like that, they won't be able to pay the bills this month.

A green light from the traffic post suddenly switched to red and Nicole slammed the brakes all of a sudden, Darwin's and Ainis's faces left an imprint on the seats in front of them. She was so distracted by her pondering that she nearly broke the lawn. And as luck would have it, past the crosswalk ran a half naked Richard, chased by a group of cooks and waiters.

Nicole sighed as her eyes followed them down the street. Yep, that seemed about right. "Why can't we have one normal day in our lives?"

Anais rubbed her sore nose and said, "You mean, why can't we function like a proper family?"

"We are a proper family!" She put the car in reverse and ignoring all traffic laws, cut through the red light. Riding on an opposite lane, the car thundered down the road.

She rode past the mob of pissed people, and kept the car going alongside Richard, who looked to be on his last breath. The car window was rolled down, "Richard, get in!"

"Ah! It's not..*huff!* That easy!" He responded through mountains of sweat and heaving.

Nicole rolled her eyes and hit the brakes, steering to the left and entering the sidewalk halfway, she blocked off the mob. Multiple faces face planted against the windows and slid down on the ground.

Richard slid to a stop and hastily returned to the car before anyone could get up and climb over to reach him. Once he was strapped in, she hit the gas and left the downed mob in cloud of dust.

"Phew! Thanks, honey. What I would do without you?" Richard said, trying his best to appease his very angry wife.

It looked like she was going to snap at him with the fury of thousand suns, but, a sigh followed and she just smiled tiredly. "Know what? It wasn't your fault. We're never going to that dentist office again." It wasn't Richards fault after all. It was and whatever the heck he used for painkillers, if they could even be called that.

"See?" Darwin spoke up from the backseat. "Everything worked out in the end."

"Yeah, it's a good thing that-"

The rear window crashed, and a spatula implanted itself on the front windshield. Hanging on the back bumper of the car, was the chief cook. A rooster with a furious expression. "DON'T THINK THAT YOU WILL ESCAPE WITHOUT PAYING!"

"Darwin! You jinxed us!" Anais yelled over the gushing wind that came from the hole in the window.

Darwin rocked back and forth on the seat with his knees drawn to his face. "Sorry! I really thought it was over!"

"Richard! What did you do to make him so angry?" Nicole shouted out of panic. Everyone was panicking. It was contagious in this situation.

Now that he thought about it, after getting out from the kitchen, the interior didn't look like that of a fast food joint. Perhaps it was a restaurant. "I might have crashed his business by eating everything in the kitchen?" Richard answered with a shrug and a clueless, worried smile.

"What do we do!?" Darwin yelled out of sheer terror. The rooster was getting closer to the rear windshield, he could see the tips of his feathers reaching for the rooftop.

Nicole pulled the spatula from the window and unhooked her seatbelt, "Richard, take the wheel!" She ordered with a determined expression and climbed into the backseat.

Richard had to clumsily get into the drivers seat and squeeze into it, as the seat was pulled closer to wheel than usual.

Anais and Darwin scooted closer to the doors to make some space for their mom. As Nicole got the seat, she stuck her hand through the hole in the glass and slapped the rooster across the face with his own spatula. "Leave us alone, you crazed chicken!"

He blinked the stars out of his vision, but didn't let go of the bumper regardless. "Pay me!" He demanded and attempted to grab Nicole by the hand. She parried his wing and slapped him across the head again.

"We don't have that kind of money! Stop scaring my kids and buzz off!" She yelled back to him and with one strike to his other wing, made him let go of the bumper. Nicole returned the spatula back to him with masterful precision, by launching it straight into his open beak, thus promoting him to shut up while rolling on the asphalt.

"And that's the end of that." She said and pulled her hand back inside. "You kids okay?" She immediately asked and checked them all over if they were hurt.

"Mom, we're fine." Anais whined, at least no one was here to see their mom getting all fussy about them.

"Well, that's a relief." She let out a sigh of exhaustion and relaxed against the backseat. So many things could've gone wrong here. "Anyways, we're going home."

"Actually, I was thinking, maybe we could stop for some fries on the way back?" Richard said with some hope. One look at the rear mirror said otherwise as three pairs of eyes angrily stared at the back of his head. "Ah..guess not."

When the family had returned, they had a lot to do. Well, Nicole had a lot to do. Richard and the kids were as always, absorbed in their own activities. The two kids went upstairs to calm down after the ordeal, and Richard plopped down in his usual seat on the couch. He didn't even act a tiny bit worried. Unlike Nicole.

While the broken car windows could be fixed, although, at a price, the house window, would cost even more. She collapsed on the couch besides Richard and groaned while rubbing her eyes, "Uugh, where are we going to get the money for all these repairs…" Expense upon expense. And they still haven't even received this month's electricity and water bills.

She glanced at Richard, to see if he could..no, getting him to work for money would the same as putting a cat and a dog in a cage, it would be a disaster. Surprisingly, it has happened before. And it almost ended in the Elmore's demise. But what could she do? They already were tightening their belts in regards to everything. She couldn't even remember the last time they brought new clothes. All of them were washed and worn a thousand times. Cheapest body wash products were used as well. Food always came from the discount bins and sales.

And now their vehicle was busted up too. Not to mention, the kids will soon need new notebooks and other school supplies. With all those factors weighing heavily on her mind, Nicole tried to think of what to do. She couldn't get a secondary job, that would be a sanity ender for her. And working overtime at the Rainbow factory wasn't in her interests either. Perhaps she could talk to her friend Yuki, the wife of the Rainbow factory owner, and somehow gain a promotion?

No, she couldn't just use her connections to rise up. Such a way is only for dishonest, money hungry bastards. Besides, using her friendship with Yuki for her own selfish gain, it would be just bad. Then again, they needed the cash, badly. "There has to be another way…" She whined out and sunk deeper into the couch. Being the head of a family sometimes really was difficult.

-Kenae residence-

Alan patiently awaited for his roommate's return by the door. The second the door opened, he greeted him with the brightest of smiles. "Good afternoon, my dearest friend!"

"Alan, we shared five classes today." Neal pointedly responded with grin, "And you greeted me six times in the hallway. At some point, even I know when to stop."

Alan nodded, that much was true. He did. "You're right. But a 'Hello' from a friend always brightens up my day. And I know it does the same to you!"

"How thoughtful of you." Neal's temporary grin fell into a sad look as he took off his shoes and arranged them neatly.

His sad expression went unnoticed by Alan as he carried on, "Oh, before I forget. There's rumours flying around that there will be a party tomorrow for our football team. To congratulate them for making this far and actually ending up on the finals this time. I was hoping that maybe you, me, Carmen and.." Only now did Alan noticed how pathetic and glum Neal looked.

"And…what happened to you?"

Neal wordlessly turned around and pointed his thumbs over the back. The entire back of his jacket was stained with mud.

He wasn't looking where he was walking when going to the stadium with Teri. Which resulted in him looking like a massive fool in front of her. He tripped and ended up on the ground. Which after, he just said bye to Teri and wallowing in his own embarrassment, scurried back home.

That jacket actually put some colour on him. Made him appear a little less boring and more smart. And it was a proof of his own skill as it went through so much hell with him. Proof of skill, as it remained without tears and dirty spots for two years now. And now, that went down the drain too.

Without it, he looked like the most bleak, boring person in the crowd. Quite literally a gray spot in the crowd. Maybe he required a wardrobe change? No, that's just silly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Alan said as he overlooked the damage done to the school jacket. It wasn't that terrible. Perhaps it could still be washed out without any trace of it being dirty.

"Think your mother could put it in the washing machine?" Then it topped him, they had no hands. He saw how difficult it was for Alan's mother to prepare food. Which explained why they usually ordered food. On that note, did they even have a washing machine? "On second thought, I'll wash it myself." Neal hastily added and went towards the staircase.

"Oh it's no big deal, Neal. Just give it to my mom and sh-"

Neal cut him off with a shake of his head, "No, no. I did this. I'm cleaning it." He said and went to the second floor. After dropping off his schoolbag, he set to work in the bathroom.

He tried using as little soap and detergent as possible. He still hated the fact that he had to depend on Kenae family for housing and food. He felt like a burden on their necks. Or, bodies at this point. Which was his main reason for staying in the room most the time.

After minutes of hard brushing, dousing the jacket in hot water and using soap and a bit of detergent, he managed to clean it. He inspected the entire back of the jacket just to make sure that he cleansed it perfectly. And he did. Neal breathed a sigh of relief.

Exiting the bathroom, he went downstairs and into the backyard to hang it up to dry. Alan had gotten his attention again, "Neal, about the party?"

Neal stopped short near glass sliding doors that lead into the back yard and looked at him questioningly. "What about it?"

"Well, will you attend it?"

He didn't know anyone well enough to have a good time at the mentioned school party. His classmates outright didn't want anything to do with him other than laugh at his misfortune. Which meant, no friends to attend the party with, no fun. It defeated the purpose of him going there. "No, Alan, I'm not going. And it's probably sports themed. It just doesn't interest me watching bunch of football players flex." Neal informed him as professionally as he could and went outside.

Alan was left to ponder on how to get Neal into the party. At least for five minutes. Neal could still have fun with just him and Carmen. Alan would have to make sure to try his hardest to dispel any attempts of people trying to make fun of of his friend. Perhaps he could even help him in regards to making friends too?

* * *

There were no laundry lines. So Neal attempted to set it to dry on a small decorative tree in the yard. Which failed. The small plant couldn't hold it at all. His second option was placing it on the fence.

After which, he looked around the yard, just to make sure no one was watching. When he spotted no one, he took a deep whiff of his jacket.

It was still there. No matter how many times the jacket was washed, or got cologne or some perfume sprayed on it when the occasion arose, he couldn't get rid of that one thing about it. The underlining smell of blood.

Perhaps it will remain there forever, as a reminder of who he truly was.

-End of chapter 8-


	9. Chapter 9

The first period started out like usual. It was boring. Math, english, more math, science. Then, an announcement blared out from the speakers in the corner of each classroom.

"Good morning students of Elmore." Like always, it was principal Brown's voice carrying the message.

As everyone cast their eyes on the speaker, the principal continued with his message. "With the rivalry between the two schools of Elmore running so tense, we decided to house a little party to encourage our team for tomorrow's game! The Elmore Duck's themselves will be present in this party and giving out autographs! Be sure to congratulate them on making into the finals. The time of the event will be posted on the school page and like always, everyone is welcome to attend."

"Also to note, due to the big game tomorrow, all the classes will be shortened. That will be all. Go, go Elmore Ducks!" With a final cheer from the principal, the speakers went silent and the classes returned to their usual rhythm.

"A party today and shortened classes tomorrow? What sort of crazy age did we enter?" Gumball said to Darwin in a whisper so that the baboon teacher wouldn't get angry.

"I know, right. What's next? Talking soda cans?" His fish brother said jokingly. His smile dropped when he remembered, talking soda can has happened before. And it was awkward. "Anyway, do you plan on going?"

Gumball nodded, "Yep. Gonna ask Penny out for a dance." He already planned the whole thing in his head. The two of them dancing in the glow of spotlight with everyone gazing in wonder at their beautiful romance. It will be magical. And there was no question about it that she will go, especially after the lengths that he went to create the invitation. "You're going too, right?"

"Yeah. I hope Carrie is free after school." Darwin uttered and glanced to the back of the class where Carrie sat. The ghost girl was as beautiful as always. A dreamy sigh escaped Darwin, a little too loud some might say and they finally drew attention.

"Do you two have something to share with the entire class?" Miss Simian all of a sudden spoke up, her eyes diverted from her newspaper at them.

"No miss Simian." They responded in union and fell silent.

After the class had ended, many kids checked out the school page on the Internet. The time of the party was two hours after school will end. Plenty of time to return home, rest up, get refreshed and come back for the music, dancing and soft drinks. Not to mention the football team that would be at the party too. Many students wanted to chat with the players, congratulate them and so forth. Others wanted to dance and have fun as such things rarely ever happened at Elmore junior high.

* * *

In the hallway, Alan and Carmen were chatting about their plans. After all, tomorrow is going to be Friday, followed by a weekend. Neal hung around close by, not really partaking in their conversation.

Math, English, Geography. It weighted on his mind and turned it into chaos. So much for studying hard. He greatly struggled to even keep up, much less ascend further in the class scores. Alan had told him to just keep trying harder, or at least, don't end up in the last place in terms of GPA, like Gumball and Darwin.

Neal considered himself lucky that Alan saw him as a friend. And the cacti girl, Carmen, was quickly warming up to him too. Despite her being a little on the 'corrective' side, he liked her as well. Eventually the talk shifted from what they were they were going to do over the weekend, to pulling Neal into their conversation and addressing his 'social' problems. They eventually managed to talk him into trying to make more friends. And Neal agreed out of politeness. But he nicely pointed out the fact that this was going to be the last time he will attempt to make friends with anyone.

Straightening out his blue jacket, and brushing a stray streak of hair from under his glasses, he cast one final glance over his shoulder. Alan smiled and nodded and Carmen gave him a thumbs up.

He looked ahead of himself, seeing a hallway full of students. "Right. One last try." He nervously said to himself. He looked around, trying to find someone who was alone and not preoccupied with chatting or doing something.

He finally found someone.

A person who had black, bushy hide all over his body. It was cut off in some parts of his legs and arms, making him look like he had black rings on his appendages. His face was devoid of any fur, looking like it belonged to a primeape, with a big, red nose. He wore a violet winter hat -even though it was spring-, and a t-shirt that was just a little less darker shade of orange, like his skin.

The ape kid had a relaxed smile on him at all times as he shuffled around in his locker. He seemed nice enough to try and make friends with.

Neal set his arms firmly on his sides to keep himself from fidgeting and strode up to the guy in question. He cleared his throat to get his attention. "Hi! Wanna be friends?"

The kid didn't get startled by the surprise of a voice saying hello. He turned to look at who it was, and once he saw Neal, standing straight like a pole, his smile dropped into an uncomfortable grimace. "Ew, no, Pudding." He said with a laugh. Shutting his locker with haste he set to putting as much distance between himself and the trending loser.

Neal exhaled through his nose. He should've known better than to try something. Who was he trying to fool here? His social life was gone the minute that bowl was dumped on his head in front of everyone.

Alan and Carmen both approached him silently. "Wow. Your name sure spread fast." Alan noted after few seconds.

"Like plague." Neal added sadly. Well, at least these two individuals didn't care for his 'Popularity' which put everyone off.

Seeing that now might not be the best time to push Neal into trying again after such a painful failure, a change of subject was in order for all of them. "So, are you coming to the after school party?" Carmen asked Alan in an uninterested fashion like mentioning an everyday thing. It was her way of asking if Alan was free to attend it with her.

"Why yes I will. What about you, my sweetheart?" Alan replied while giving her a loving look.

Carmen's face lit up like a christmas tree. "Well, if you are going, then so am I!"

Neal was already distancing himself between them. They clearly needed space.

"What about you Neal, are you coming?" Alan asked, making him stop in his tracks.

"I don't have anyone to go with." Neal monotonously replied. Friends? None. Acquaintances? Zero.

"Then me and Carmen will stick with you. That way you won't be alone."

"Are you sure you want that?" Neal glanced between the two lovebirds. He then pulled Alan away from Carmen for a little privacy. "I would be like a third wheel. Don't you want to be with her, well, solo on solo?" He said in a hushed tone.

"We're friends, Neal! Besides, me and Carmen always have a lot of time together. Since…you know, you stay in the room all the time and never come down." Alan explained. "So, will ya?"

"I…" Neal stopped himself before he could say anything else. He was about to say no without even thinking about it. Like yesterday. Was he really that grumpy without the potion? This party might actually prove to be fun. Even with him tagging along as a third wheel. "Sure. At this point, I'm just happy to be included." He said with a grin. Perhaps this is what he needed to break out of this circle of people making jokes at his expense?

"Delightful!" Alan said with a happy twirl. He looked at Carmen and then back at Neal, "Well, I must go. I'll see you at home!" Alan floated back to his girlfriend.

Neal watched the couple go find a more quieter spot to enjoy each others company. And as he did, a small prickle of jealousy pinched him. It must be nice, having that special someone. He then instantly recalled the paper bear and his heart jumped.

It was as if that reaction caused an explosion in his head that formed an idea. He should ask her out! They could chat, she could get to know him, he could get to know her better. They could even dance and have fun together! Just the thought of it made a giddy smile appear on his lips, followed by a flow of warmth in his chest. Now he truly was excited for the party.

Just as it came, it was washed away immediately by another thought. And just how exactly will he ask her out? And for that matter, why would she even bother going with him? Yesterday's incident near the stadium probably made her think that those jokes at his expense were warranted. Besides, she didn't know him that well either. He wasn't the best looking kid in the class. Neither was he smart, funny, or stacked in the muscle department.

And what kind of girl would even so much as consider going out with guy who was shorter than her by a good margin? After she helped him stand up yesterday, he witnessed from up close that even if he stood on tippy toes, only his eyes would come into her view. And never mind the pitying look that she had after witnessing his tumble.

Yet his spirit didn't want to give out just yet. This fascination, -or perhaps a really powerful crush?- made him optimistic. He at least had to try. After all, he had nothing to lose. At worst, she might view him as a creep. Probably a perverted. One of those with black hoods that stalk girls around the corner. "Now that's a good self motivation." He thought to himself sarcastically.

Minutes later, he had found the girl in question. Just his luck, she was busy polishing the door handle of the boys bathroom. A rag in one hand, disinfectant in other, wearing rubber gloves too. She was really dedicated to her cause of freeing the world from the germs. That or keeping everyone from getting sick. Both reasons made Neal want to be together with her even more.

He was keeping his distance, staying behind a corner and gathering his wits. Asking a girl to go together to a party. Such a thing should be easy. Right? Well, the numb, sweaty palms and jitters said otherwise. And what if it went just like his previous attempt to make a new friend few minutes ago? Sure all the guys in the movies made it look easy, then again, they were cool and handsome. And he...wasn't even physically 'different' like the others. This always had eaten him up. What if the reason behind him being pushed around was because he was just one of the most common, boring things on the planet? A human. No, he couldn't dwell on that. Optimism was what he was betting his cards on this time.

Neal bounced lightly on his feet in an attempt to loosen up his body. He can't look like a nervous wreck in front of her. Like in those movies where a guy ask a girl out, he has to be calm and cool and relaxed.

With a purpose fueling his step, he approached Teri. Luckily she saw him coming. She raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner as he avoided bumping into other kids passing by. He expected a neutral reaction, not one of imminent disturbance. It was probably his hardest jaw. He forcefully softened up his facial features, trying to appear as relaxed as possible. Even the potion effects weren't making this easy.

He kept a respective distance between himself and her as Neal spoke up. "Hello, Teri." Too automatic. He bit the inside of his cheek to force his voice to listen to him. "I was wOndering-" And his voice cracked. Painfully loud too. He inhaled again and pressed the imaginary reset button on this conversation. All the while, Teri uncomfortably avoided the eye contact, not really knowing what to say to him. After taking a second, Neal tried again. "Ahem. Whatcha up to?" It came out very sugary and cheerful. Exactly like one of those anime girls talking with their senpai.

That's all he wanted to know? And here Teri was beginning to think that he wanted to ask about today's homework or something equally as important. "Well-" Teri began and raised the wet rag the bottle of cleansing spray. "I'm removing all those pesky microbes and potential diseases from the thing that everyone touches all day."

"Aha. That's very thoughtful of you." And like always, the talk would've ended there since Teri was going back to cleansing again. Seriously, she was cleaning more diligently than Rocky. But he didn't want their talk to end on such a short notice again. "So, Teri? Are you going to go to the party today?" Neal asked, slinking closer to her.

"I have cheering practice." She replied absentmindedly while polishing the door handle meticulously.

"Oh…" And so he hit another wall. Now what? She didn't look like she will provide him something to lead off into another conversation, or give him a chance to invite her. Teri didn't even look or drop the slightest bit of hit for being interested in the party. "_Think you pumpkin! Think!"_ He made the rusty gears in his brain turn. There had to be something. He slowly started connecting the dots.

While he was mulling things over, Teri occasionally looked at him. She was getting a little anxious. Neal just kept standing and staring off into the floor like he was phased. Just when she was about to ask if everything was alright, he suddenly came to life again. A big smile was plastered on his face as he said, "Ah! But the classes are shortened today! Means you'll go early to the practice and get off early too, right?"

"Yeah, that's true." She slowly said, still not following his train of thought. Where was he going with this?

"Well, if you do get off early..I…" Neal swallowed hard. This was the part where most guys screw up. No, most guys screw up by not even trying in the first place. He already gathered enough guts to get this far, no going back, whatever happens, happens. "Wanna go together? You know, as lov..friends...or, classmates."

He awaited for her answer with anticipation of many different reactions. Weirded out, angry, grossed out, outright disgusted. What he got was the most normal reaction ever, "Mmh, sure." Teri said and returned to the task at hand.

Squealing in delighted happiness internally, Neal smiled, "Okay, see you there." He quickly said with barely restrained joy. He then swiftly turned on his heel and marched back into the classroom before he could say anything that could ruin this for him.

Only after a minute did he realise what happened. He asked her out. And she said yes! Out of all the people. Although he didn't let himself get carried away. In his own words. They were going as friends to the party. Even so, Neal was giddy beyond belief. Perhaps things aren't going to be so bad for him after all.

* * *

Scythe sneered and gagged at the sight. "Did you boys see that? Yuck!" The rat shook his head to rid himself of the image.

Mowdown cracked a big, toothy smile and had a hearty laugh. "Yeah, lil' ol' Puddings in cahoots with the crazy germ chick." He wasn't surprised in the slightest by what they saw. "Crazy attracts stupid. Hue Hue!"

They had heard everything on the other side of the bathroom door, and witnessed the interaction through the tiny crack in the door.

"What's the plan, Julius?" Growled the disembodied hand with tattoos, Reaper. "They should definitely be fun to mess with now." Their group had initially stayed away from Teri, mainly due to the fact that all of them received a face full of disinfectant spray. Surprisingly, it works just as well as pepper spray when aimed at the nose.

Their friend, Julius, leaning against one of the toilet stalls, was deep in thought. He certainly wanted to get back the crazed paper, especially after that one time when she ranted about how dirty their clothes were and how they were walking disease carriers.

Picking at a scrap of old paint on one of the doors, he contemplated what would be the best way to embarrass her. They would essentially mess with Pudding too, because he was involved with her now. Two for the price of one. And he came up with just the right thing for this situation. "I think I know what we can do."

-After school-

Penny felt tired. But not to the point of falling asleep while standing. The constant cheerleading training did pay off after all. She still felt like she could pull an hour of rigorous training and still have enough energy to deal with Gumball. Which now, she was currently doing.

Her boyfriend had come to the practice like always. And instead of just being there for her, throughout the entire time of training, he held up a big, heart shaped poster: "_Will you go to the dance with me today?_"

She had to deal with constant grins and winks directed her way from her teammates. It was kind of embarrassing, but also sweet. Gumball didn't care what the others have thought of him and went through the trouble to ask her out in his own, interesting kind of way.

"A giant poster cut in the shape of a heart with tons of glitter." Penny noted jokingly after meeting up with him. "How could I refuse?" She said with a sarcastic smile and kissed him gently on the cheek.

Gumball purred happily in response. "That's great! I was honestly thinking that you won't agree. Like you would have some plans with your family or something." Gumball himself always got distracted in the past. He used to fan over Penny, but not nearly enough. He wanted to spend so much more time with her, but the circumstances didn't allow it to happen before. And

"How much glitter did you use?" Penny asked out of curiosity. The paper heart sparkled like a disco ball, which could be seen from all the way across the stadium.

Gumball gave some thought to the answer, recalling how he sneakily 'borrowed' some glitter from his sister. "Let's just say Anais won't be too thrilled to see her supply run short."

"Anyway, do you want me to come pick you up, or do we meet up at the gym?" Gumball asked her, hoping that the latter option will be picked. He really didn't want his mom to drive them to the party. Or god forbid, their dad. That would make for one strange and awkward ride and Gumball didn't think that Penny was ready to deal with his father yet.

Penny chose to go with the first option, fully knowing that the ride to the school would be a little awkward for them. "No, no. We can meet at school. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, absolutely. Then I'll see you there?" He stepped a little closer to her with a faint smile.

Penny nodded in response and placed a small kiss on his lips before both of them went their separate ways. Oh yeah, this evening will be fun.

* * *

Music was playing just above the comfortable volume. Just low enough to have a chat and not yell, but high enough to dance and move to the rhythm. Although, in the gym, where many kids were present, no one was dancing. Mainly because it was principal Brown who picked the music, thinking it was cool with the kids. So most of the students just chatted among themselves, enjoying provided drinks and snacks.

However, few kids were dancing in the middle of the gym, where other students made space for them. Darwin and Carrie did some silly, childish dances, making each other laugh with their antics. Not too far from them, Gumball was dancing with Penny wrapped in his arms with more slower movements. He barely paid any attention to the awkward looks they were getting from some kids. He was having fun and judging from the big smile and gleaming happiness on Penny's face, so was she.

But a party wouldn't be a party without those select few kids who hanged by the punch bowl. Like Tobias, who got turned down by Masami after he tried to invite her to the party. Naturally, besides him there were other brooding individuals.

Amongst those people, was Julius and his subordinates. They stood at one of the snacks table, hogging the entire thing to themselves and stuffing their faces with chocolate and cookies. All that delicious taste turned foul when a screechy old voice addressed them.

It was Miss Simian, checking up on the students and keeping everything in order. "Ah, good evening, losers. I see you found the snack table." She said with distaste in her voice at their less that eye pleasing table manners.

"Yeah, we're stacking supplies for the winter." Julius responded with a forced smile and his buddies nodded along.

"Oh, so you do plan to stay behind for another year." Simian replied with a cackle before leaving them be.

"Dusted up fossil." Julius quietly sneered behind Simian's back when she was out of earshot.

"Ay yo! Crazed disease control, five o'clock!" A piece of chocolate flew from his mouth as Mowdown pointed at the crowd of kids. Through the gaps, they spotted a familiar figure very carefully enter the gym as if walking into a minefield. Their fun target for the night, Teri.

"You go the stuff I told you to get?" Julius asked Scythe, not losing the sight of her as the rat nodded rapidly.

Scythe scurried under the table and with Mowdown's help, dragged out a big garbage bag that was stuffed to the brim with piles of clothing. Their group has gathered all the unwashed, dirty clothes that they were going to throw out and put them in one bag. If all goes according to plan, they should have something to laugh about for days with this prank. Julius checked the bag just in case something was missing. Yep, everything was in place. Now all they needed to do was sit and wait for the perfect opportunity to pull this off.

* * *

Neal, come on." Alan urged his roommate to hurry. Even Carmen was running low on patience. Both kids waited outside the door of the washroom for the third person. Of course the gesture of them even waiting until Neal was done was very nice, but he just had to double check himself to appear presentable.

Neal was still looking himself over in front of the mirror. Jacket, washed properly and ironed out, check. Gray jeans, cleansed of any dirt, check. Green sneakers, not a single spot on them, check. He wanted to be clean as much as possible just for Teri, knowing full well about her massive distaste for germs and bacteria.

"Wait. Why am I doing? This isn't a date." Neal whispered to himself. He could only wish it was. The differences in their physical bodies alone make it impossible for them to be together. Not to mention, he will not be able to rely on the potions forever. At some point, she would see just what type of person he really was. With that thought, his mood suddenly took a nosedive into the dirt. "Who am I trying to fool here?" The effects were wearing off. He could feel it. If they weren't, such grim pondering wouldn't have occurred. Before leaving the washroom, he took a small gulp of the potion and slipped it back in his inner jacket pocket. Immediately, bad thoughts went away, he was pleasantly dazed, and felt like nothing else mattered but the first priority set in his mind. Enjoy his evening time with Teri. It was time to go.

* * *

Masami and her friend, Lesley, had once again met up in this less than fun party that the school has hosted. They were pretty bored and just talking TV shows and soap operas they saw. There were even any new gossip to talk about besides few students whose homes were vandalized by those Franklin apes. But there was a silver lining here in the form of all the hunky football players hanging around. Pure eye candy for Masami. That was the sole reason she came here.

They stopped their chat when Teri reached them. It was pretty entertaining to watch her dodge and avoid most of the people due to her fear of contracting some kind of sickness.

"Hey girls! Have you seen Neal around?" Teri asked nervously, wondering to herself why she even bothered to come here. Clearly the floors weren't mopped properly and such a big gathering of people was a sure epicenter of spreadable virus. "He wanted to-"

"Who?" Lesley asked with a raised eyebrow. Was it a person he knew? The name certainly didn't ring any bells.

"Neal, the...ughm…" Teri quickly realized she didn't really knew that much about him. Quiet student during classes. During recess, silently doing his homework in the library. And that was pretty much it. They did talk on several occasions, but she didn't get the chance to get to know him.

For that matter, no one did. He was just nice and quiet. Other than those 'funny' pictures online, there wasn't really anything to him that could make him stand out. "Ughm, the new kid. From the internet?" Teri finally caved in and used his fifteen minutes of demeaning fame.

"Oh. Right, him. No offense to the guy, but he's…very bland. And forgettable." Lesley immediately jumped to gossip like it was his default setting. "And no, we haven't seen him tonight."

"Yeah, if it weren't for his nickname and those few funny pictures, we'd probably forget about him. Just look at the way he dresses. Yuck. Bland and tasteless." Masami added with slight disgust in her voice.

Teri pouted slightly. Was he really that bad? OoSure, she wasn't planning on dating him or anything, but still, he was rather nice. Even if he was a little boring. Neal didn't seem to be put off by her quirks, or frequent visits to the school nurse after another one of her freak outs, that's why she wanted to be at least buddies with him, hence her presence here. In this contaminated place with all those people who could sneeze any second and release millions of bacteria into the air. She should have brought a mask.

"It's because you don't get out often that you don't know how to pick out better guys." Masami flat out layed it out for Teri. In all her shopping trips to the malls, she has never seen the paper girl around in the city. "Look at that one." Masami directed Teri's attention by pointing her hand comprised of clouds at one of the football players near a snacks table. "Jeremy Gant. A powerful player, rising star quarterback of our team."

Jeremy was a really tall kid in a form of a humanoid. Tall and very muscular. An ogre to be precise. Pure forest green skin, two round red eyes, and fearsome fangs protruding from his mouth with a big, reddish nose in the middle. His brown hair, much like all of the other players, was cut short. His biceps weren't covered by his football gear -all the players wore their game gear to stand out in the party, minus the helmets- so they were clearly visible. And he kept flexing flexing them to anyone who would pass him. He seemed like a physically capable guy that could take down anyone, but probably didn't have a single brain cell in his skull. It was mostly because of his clueless expression that he wore constantly.

"A real hot looker, don't you think?" Masami pointedly looked at Teri.

"I...guess so." She slowly said, seizing Jeremy up from a far with her eyes. By all that is holy, he really was hot. The size of those muscles cut out of stone, the strong, defined jawline, and his height. It made Teri fight back the drool that threatened to escape from her mouth. But what was she thinking? A guy that impressive wouldn't even pay a glance to the little, shy Teri. Especially because he's an upperclassmen. "You seem to know a lot about them. I didn't take you for a sports lover."

"And I'm not. I just keep in touch with the hottest and richest players of our school, that's all." Masami proudly replied. She then began nudging Teri towards where Jeremy stood. "Come on, I'll introduce you."

Teri began resisting instantly while her cheeks were turning red from embarrassment. "I don't think it's a good idea! Cheering for them is one, but actually talking to the stars of the team is different!"

Masami rolled her eyes with a faint smile, "Come on, you can't just stand here and admire him for the entire time. And with me-"

"And me!" Lesley interjected.

"-acting as your...backup, so to speak, you'll do fine." Masami dragged Teri towards the football player who was chatting with his other team members.

Given up on resisting -because Lesley blocked her off from behind- Teri just went along with Masami's plan. Did she really think it'll be that easy to hook her up with with a star player? Her? Teri wasn't even an important part of the team. She joined the team to stay healthy. And because they were one member short. Jamie was too aggressive, and Tina was too huge to be on the team.

But, perhaps this won't be so bad after all? Sure, the guy looked way out of her league, but it wouldn't hurt to try. The worst that could happen would be if he were to offer her a handshake. Or any physical contact for that matter.

It seemed that Jeremy and his friends didn't notice them coming, which slightly annoyed Masami. "Hey, Jeremy. Enjoying the party?" She spoke a little louder, with sweetness in her voice and a flirtatious bat of her eyelashes. Meanwhile, Teri and Lesley stood behind their friend and silently observed them.

Jeremy got his attention pulled from his chat by the cloud's wondrous voice. "Hey, Masami. How you been, girl?" He greeted her respectfully, unlike his other friends. After all, she was the daughter of a very rich and powerful businessman who owned the Rainbow factory.

"Taking a small break. Tomorrow is the big game after all." Masami responded and added, "I have to stay…" She glanced at his bulging muscles with a tiny grin, "Pumped up."

"Speaking of which, this is my friend form the cheerleading team that will support you tomorrow. Teri." Masami floated out of the way, leaving Teri fully exposed.

Jeremy regarded Teri for a second. He then shrugged in response. That girl was barely cute, but enough to pass as few minutes of fun and good publicity. "Mmh. Are you the captain of the team? Keeping Masami in her place I hope." He jokingly said to break the ice a little.

Be honest or lie a little to appear more endearing? "I'm…not the captain." Teri replied, awkwardly twirling her thumbs and looking off to the side. You'd think the players would know who the captain was. Then again, she didn't know what position Jeremy took up, so she had no excuse either.

Awkward silence soon befell them and no-one was saying anything. That's when Masami and Lesley stepped in. They had managed to clear up the mood a little and the chat soon resumed. It was pleasant, just the four of them talking. Jeremy was being a little flirty towards all them. But after realizing that Lesley is a boy, he only sticked to Masami and Teri.

Somewhere amongst the students, Teri had spotted Neal. She had forgotten all about him! But alas, it barely mattered now. He was a bit too late.

Teri was beginning to get along with Jeremy and he seemed to get more and more flirty with her. Perfect. She smiled, another job well done. But her paper friend was occasionally glancing somewhere else. Masami followed where Teri was looking and she too, saw Neal, and…oh no, he was going straight towards them.

Now they really didn't need him here. There was no use for him here after all, other than to make things awkward and to untangle the nice, cool atmosphere that she created between Teri and Jeremy. Masami could already feel herself darkening out of frustration, small crackles of lightning sparkling in her eye sockets. Lesley shot her a concerned look. Some interference was in order.

"Good evening everyone." Neal presented himself as best as he could. Back, straightened out. Relaxed smile. Stance, a little stiff, making him look like a businessman, or one of those super bookworms. Not a perfect presentation of one's self, but he tried.

Jeremy was the first to speak up before Masami could say anything. "Ohey, what's up little dude? Here for an autograph?" He wasn't the first person who interrupted them for one. It was annoying, sure, but still, good publicity meant more fans.

"…ugh…" Neal didn't prepare for that. Caught off guard, he looked at Jeremy and wondered just who he was. A celebrity of some kind? The uniform, looked like football gear.

"No worries." Jeremy, out of his pants pocket took out his picture where he's flexing and wrote down his signature. 'To my #1 fan!' was an extra. He gave it to Neal, "Here. Run along now and be good to your parents."

"..." Did he just get blown off like a leaf? It appeared so. He backed off the group, glancing over his shoulder at Teri. Of course, she didn't even see him as she was busy pouring herself some punch.

Masami had a surprised smile on her face. That worked out better than expected. A meathead is useful after all.

Leaving them be, Neal had returned to Alan and Carmen, who were sitting on the chairs arranged near the gymnasium walls.

"I think I got co..ahem..girl blocked." Neal said to Alan and sat down besides him, unblinking, unmoving and wondering what just happened. He didn't even manage to get a word in with Teri.

"Uhm, yeah. We saw." Carmen said with pity in her voice as Alan nodded along. "Sorry."

"Oh no. It's okay." Neal responded automatically. "I got an autograph." He said and showed them the picture. "That's...cool I guess. Anyways, why are you still here? Go have fun!" He suddenly spoke with a more brighter tone. Even though he knew that it sounded a little too fake.

Alan wasn't sure what to make of this. He didn't really want to leave if one of his friends was feeling down. And it was pretty obvious that Neal was one of those friends right now. "Are you sure? We are perfectly fine with keeping you company here. After all, that's what friends do!"

"Oh don't be like that. You really want to spend such a nice evening in the shadows? Go you two. I'll wait here."

Alan was about to argue that for a friend he'd go through more. But since Neal was assuring like so, he guessed that it wouldn't hurt to go and have some fun. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"I'm absolutely sure. Carmen can text me when you guys decide to head home." Neal responded with a grin.

Sharing one last look with Carmen, the two of them left him. Leaning back in his seat, Neal blew a stray hair from underneath his glasses. Now that he was alone, he could take a minute to reflect on what went wrong. No. That was boring and silly. He was looking way too deep into this. Another opportunity will present itself in the future. If Teri and Jeremy don't get together after this party, because usually that's how it always goes.

With nothing better to do, Neal silently observed the party from the sidelines. There was Sarah and Ocho. They seemed to get along quite well. Well, judging from how energetic Ocho was, more than 'well', who would've guessed?

Gumball and Penny seemed to draw most of the attention towards themselves on the dance floor. What a show-off. Clearly, he was enjoying the attention more than the person with whom he was dancing.

Where did that thought come from? Assuming things without knowledge was bad. He needed to get ahold of himself. Leaving his seat, Neal went for a walk in the halls in search for the restroom. The sun had set already, and the halls weren't lit up properly, so it was quite dark. But the moonlight shining through the windows gave more than enough brightness to see. Quite a few students were outside of gymnasium, which didn't surprise Neal, because by the looks of it, those students were couples.

He increased his pace when he saw two beings making out. It was truly peculiar. A poison dart frog with long, curly locks. She was extraordinarily short. And a loose collection of legos in a form a guy, who was three times her asize. Fascinating and disturbing.

However, somewhere in the corner of his mind, he realized that it could be him in their place if he was more confident. He exhaled tiredly. Sometimes it really didn't pay well to be a background character.

Getting inside the restroom, Neal washed his hands with cold water and sprinkled some on his face. Right, there were more pressing concerns. Like studying. No matter how hard he tried, crunching numbers in math, was getting harder. Physics was demolishing him. English was decent at best. Geography is kicking his butt. History too. Mainly because it was American history. And he needed to keep at least an average GPA if he didn't want to get put in the class where all the less than intelligent kids go. Or perhaps he wouldn't? Perhaps he'd only receive extra classes, or more homework? He had no knowledge of how this school functioned here after all. Heck, an actual giant attended classes too. So the functioning must be pretty good.

Pushing those thoughts away for now, he exited the restroom and headed back towards the gym. Maybe he could sneak away some food for the walk back home?

When he reached the entrance into the gym, someone had ran past him. He looked to find that it was Teri. He could hear tiny sobs coming from her. He was quite startled and bewildered. What did he miss? A trail of clothes on the ground marked her path as well, seemingly falling from her.

In the doorway, stood Julius and his subordinates. Mowdown was holding a trash bag. They laughed as the girl disappeared in the dark hallways. There was also Simian's screeching voice coming dangerously close from somewhere in the gym, yelling about littering and what not. So the three guys had to book it immediately. And Neal certainly didn't miss how he flashed him a massive grin before getting chased off by Simian.

Yells and echoes about eternal detention soon vanished deeper into the school. Common sense told Neal that those guys did something bad to Teri. He wanted to check up on her, provide at least a tiny bit of support, knowing full well what it's like to be in her place. But then again, what could he say? 'Hey Teri, sorry I didn't come to say hello and possibly prevent that embarrassing thing that happened to you.' What kind of fool would even say something like that?

* * *

Gumball and Penny were leaving the party. Especially after it has gotten even crazier in the gym after that prank that Julius pulled. The mood was lifted even higher and it's gotten quite rowdy in there. They didn't really see what happened to Teri, but it probably wasn't very nice. On their way out, they spotted the paper bear sitting alone by the entrance into the school.

"Hey Teri. Sorry I didn't come to say hi and possibly prevent that embarrassing thing that happened to you." Gumball stated flatly and Penny elbowed him in the ribs. "What? She could've handled it in a better fashion than running off like in all those high-school movies." He quietly explained to his fairy girlfriend.

"That's not the point, Gumball." Penny hissed quietly. Despite being really clever and funny, her blue cat was a little silly at times. Especially when it comes to picking the right thing to say to people without hurting their feelings. Penny transfixed Gumball with a stern glance to make sure he won't say something to make her friend feel worse. She then returned her attention back to Teri, her features softening up in the process. "Hey, you gonna be okay?"

Teri didn't raise her head to look at them, she just nodded. "Yes. I'm fine." She replied dryly. Of course it was a lie. Embarrassed in front of the whole school, in front of her friends, in front of one of the most hottest guys that she ever met. It's not like it hasn't happened before, but still, how could anyone be okay after that?

The couple shared concerned looks, but it seemed like pushing the subject will do more harm than good, so they decided to leave her be for now. They bid Teri farewell and left her alone.

Just as they took their leave, the double doors of the school had quietly parted and out stepped Neal. He had followed the trail of clothes and it lead him here. He didn't spot Teri initially. Thinking that she might have already called her parents and they picked her up, he was about to leave. Then he hear a tiny sound akin to that of a sob. He peeked outside again and saw the source of the sound sitting right at the corner of the stone steps.

He stepped outside and slowly closed the door. Okay, here she was. Now what? What words could he say to her to make her feel better? It was at this point that he realized something. Being under the influence of the potion, was not as beneficial as he thought.

Neal sat down on the cold, concrete steps not to far from Teri. The girl didn't even acknowledge his presence, and he couldn't blame her. Heck, seeing anyone she knew was highly embarrassing for her now. But he wasn't here to make fun of her.

Music playing from the gym could be heard from all the way over where they sat. But even then, he could still hear her sobs. He quickly glanced at her. No real tears were falling. Right, she was most likely biologically incapable of it. That or she was close to crying. Regardless, something needed to be said. "Hi." Neal awkwardly choked out. Of course a voice crack would happen.

Teri didn't respond to him, but now at least she knew he was there. And she did her best to contain herself, which worked very easily as she experienced worse things with all the hospital visits. "I would've come sooner. Actually, I tried, but...yeah." Neal continued in a low hushed voice as if someone could hear them.

"What...happened?" He asked, choosing to blindly address the elephant in the room.

Teri stayed silent, staring into the pavement of the ground. Her silence continued for quite some time, with only the echo of music disrupting the evening. "Boys are jerks." She eventually said.

"Mmmh, me boy, me understand." Neal joked to lighten up the mood at least a little. Right she was not going to tell him what he missed. Asking how she spent her time prior to the 'prank' was out of the question too. He saw her chatting with what appeared to be a really important, cool looking guy. And that was ruined. "So, are you walking home?"

When she didn't say anything again, Neal was about to repeat the question, thinking she didn't hear him, "No, my dad will come to pick me up soon."

"I see." He twirled his thumbs, not really knowing how to deal with this other than employing them the basics. "Sorry I didn't come to see you."

"I tried but…" It sounded like a pathetic excuse now that he heard himself say it. It's probably for the best to come clean. "I honestly don't know what to say in this situation." Neal admitted honestly. He was talking for the sake of filling in the void of silence and trying to get her to talk.

"Then don't say anything." Teri replied with mild irritation. Why was he even here? Neal didn't come to see her, even though he was the one who invented her. And that made Teri irritated and frustrated. Had she not come, then this stupid, humiliating situation would have been avoided.

"Right." They stayed silent for a few more minutes. Much to Teri's annoyance, Neal wasn't leaving, nor he had any plans to do so. At least he could provide company to her on this chilly evening. "Are your parents picking you up?" He asked as carefully as possible, as if approaching a ticking bomb that could go off at any moment.

"Yes, soon." She said with a terse ring and Neal flinched. Maybe he did a mistake by staying here?

"What are you even doing here? Don't you have something better to do than sit and freeze to the point of getting sick?" Teri continued with a bit of aggression showing in her voice. Looking past her angry question, Neal picked up on the last few words. So even after all of that, she was still concerned for the wellbeing of a person, even if it was shown in a different manner.

"Yes, I do. Going home. But I'm on foot, so it doesn't matter."

Teri suddenly stood up, gaining Neal's attention, she dusted herself off, "Well, I'm going too. I told my dad to pick me up near the playground." She said quietly and began to take her leave. Now she just felt tired and wanted nothing more than fall in her bed and shut everyone out.

"Ah! Okay." Neal too, stood up and adjusted his glasses. "Let me walk you there." He joined up with her and as luck would have it, Teri was too exhausted to protest.

Why was he so intent to sticking with her now of all times? "Are you following me around to somehow compensate for you not showing up?" Teri narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't sound too accusing. She was way too tired for that.

"Yes and no. I have multiple reasons." He replied all too eagerly at the chance to break the silence between them.

Now that had piqued her interest, breathing in sole energy into her slightly slumped and exhausted body. "And those reasons are?"

"Classified for now." Neal flashed her a grin and Teri responded with an eye roll and a sigh. "If you think that appearing mysterious is appealing, let me tell you, it isn't." She chastised Neal by shaking her finger as if educating him on some important life lesson.

And Neal was so sure that girls like guys who were mysterious. "Awh, how come?"

"It just doesn't suit you." Teri replied with a somewhat uplifted smile.

"Well I'll keep that in mind." And the cold, sad atmosphere was finally clearing up like morning dew.

And unfortunately for Neal, who thought that they will have some real communication, they stopped near the yellow fence that surrounded the backyard of the school. The playground. In the distance, he already spotted headlights coming closer to the school.

Teri squinted her eyes, seeing that it was her dad's car, she could finally take a breather. This whole night has been a sad mess, but now at least she'll be able to fall into her bed and shut herself off from the rest of the world. Until tomorrow that is, when her team will be performing in front of thousands of people. "Well, my dad is here." She notified him.

Neal nodded, sad at the fact that time flew by like a flash. And it was likely that tomorrow they won't be able to meet up due to the football finale. "Right. Good luck with tomorrow's cheering. I bet you'll do more than an amazing job."

"I hope I will." Teri responded with a tired sigh. She will have to try her absolute hardest to perform even better than usual due to the importance of the event. It went without saying, that there was no room for failure and that already stressed her out greatly. Her worries were cut short when she heard the fence rattle.

With a sharp head turn, she found that Neal was responsible for that. He was climbing the fence. And in a single second, he already had his leg thrown over the other side too! Surprisingly fast and nimble for a guy like him.

Maybe it was the exhaustion of the mind and body, but ignoring health and safety, it was a hilarious sight. "What are you doing? You'll fall!" It was hard for Teri to keep a stern look while trying not to laugh.

Neal looked down at the paper girl, thinking as to how to answer this question. "Well if your dad sees you alone with a guy, he will be upset, correct?" He heard that that's how parents were in America most of the time.

Teri shook her head and started laughing. It was hushed, much like her voice, sounding like a beautiful melody. It automatically made Neal beam with happiness. "How thoughtful of you." Teri said in between uncontrollable giggles. "No, my dad is not that protective."

"Ah, alrighty then." He hopped down and immediately fixed his posture and stance as if nothing happened. "Sorry for assuming ahead of time."

Just then, the car had pulled up near the sidewalk. Through the front lights, Neal couldn't make out how the driver, in this case, Teri's dad, looked like. And Teri herself was already walking to the car. "I'll see you in class, Neal." She waved him goodbye. Thinking back on it, maybe this outing wasn't a complete disaster after all. After all, Neal had persistently stuck by her side. Before entering the car, she added, "And thanks!"

"For what?" Neal asked, dumbfounded as to what she meant by that as he pathetically waved back. But she didn't hear him over the car engine, that or chose not to answer.

When her dad's car had drove off, Neal's hand fell to his side and he dipped his head in defeat. He failed miserably. In the end, he got nowhere, only appeared like that one awkward guy who pitied the hurt but couldn't do anything about it. Perfect, now he was bland not only in clothing, but in personality too. Darn be his useless tongue and brain.

As there was nothing else for him to do at the school's ongoing party, Neal decided to head home. On his way down the street, where there were trees and bushes in front on the paved sidewalk he stopped in his tracks. He nearly forgot! He had to send a message to Carmen that he was walking home early so that they wouldn't need to look for him.

And just as he was finishing around in his pockets for his phone, Julius had walked out of the bushes. Him and his pals had split up and make Simian chase only one. In the end, it was probably Mowdown who got chased down as he was the biggest, slowest, and stood out with his bright color of fur. Julius looked behind himself just to make sure. There was nothing but still greenery of the leaves and the far off city noises. "Wohoo! Not me!" Cheered the older kid after successfully escaping the raging baboon. Someone was getting a lot of detention and it wasn't him!

Since Julius didn't see whom he encountered just yet, Neal silently pulled his hand out of the pocket and tried to leave without giving himself away. Although, unnecessary thoughts swelled in his mind.

Neal didn't care what was said or done to him, but Teri, she was different story. This bastard had humiliated her. A gentle, kind hearted girl who only helped others. The only girl who didn't think that what kept happening to him was funny. A girl who extended a helping hand to someone who was ignored and made fun of.

How dare he. Neal's heart began racing. Blood was pounding in his ears as pure wrath from the depths of his heart violently pierced the calming embrace of the blue substance.

Julius had finally noticed Neal after turning to head for his home too. He was leisurely striding up to him. "Hey! It's the dearest Puddin'! Whatcha doing, slumming around in here?" Julius asked in the same, demeaning, provocative way when talking to someone he enjoyed pushing around.

Neal slowly turned around. The dark night and glasses kept his rage filled gaze hidden from the view. Neal stared at him with intent of a predator ready to charge. Both his fists were clenched, his nails digged into the palm of his flesh until a single drop of scarlet red squeezed through his fingers and fell on the cold stones beneath. Sheer willpower prevented him from doing something that will land him in juvenile, or worse.

"**Keep walking.**"

Julius slowly backed away from Neal. He turned on his heel a good distance away and with a quick pace, put as much distance between himself and Neal as possible while trying to look like it was his decision to leave.

Neal shakingly exhaled and relaxed his fists. Moving his fingers around, he tried to rid himself of the sore and painful feeling. He should have known better than to go this route instead of his usual one.

Getting back on track, he took out his phone. Two numbers, one was Alan's home phone, and the other was Carmen's. 'Tell Alan that I'm heading home early.' He sent the message and tried to see if he could still spot his tormentor. No, he disappeared quickly. Continuing on his way, he wondered if it was worth it. Consuming the potion to be calm and docile. It appeared that the negatives outweighed the positives greatly.

He now knew that hoping for a better tomorrow was too much to ask for, so he instead hoped that tomorrow, the day will turn out to be decent. At the very least, normal.

-End of chapter 9-


	10. Chapter 10

Change of a long day

Part 1

It was an important day. Not just for the players of the famed American football, but those who were the fans of it. And evidently, there were a lot of fans in the Elmore junior high. Mainly because it was the finale of the championship. Even those who didn't care for the game were excited.

It was the first time that their school had made it this far. And with the recent events and Franklin's rising aggression and bullying, the tension and hopes of victory were rising each passing minute. If they pull a victory, that could potentially end Franklin's harassment towards them. The school itself had come to life. For Neal especially, it was a very awkward toilet break when the bathroom stall started speaking in a squeaky voice.

Seriously, was everything and everyone sentient here? He began to dislike it. Everything all of a sudden could pop to life. His pencil. His jacket. Even his glasses. It would be nice to know the reason as why that is.

And as the only human in the school wasn't feeling the rising fighting spirit of the event, others were embracing it. Many of the students even wore something blue in theme of their team's color. A blue shirt, a blue cap, blue shoes.

"This thing is going out of hand." Gumball said to the orange fish as he closed his locker. "I saw a dude wearing blue underwear."

"Maybe he forgot to pull up his pants?" Darwin suggested innocently.

"He wasn't wearing any." Even though majority of people in Elmore didn't even wear any clothes, it was still kind of gross. "Anyways, who's driving us to the stadium? Mom?" Gumball asked as they trekked down the hall to their class.

Darwin shook his head, "No, she said she will be working late."

"Then dad is driving us there. Which basically means-" Gumball began with a widening, knowing smile.

"We're going to be unsupervised!" They shouted in victorious union.

"Yes! I'll be able to gorge on as much soda and hotdogs as I want!" Gumball then scratched his chin in thought, "Then again, dad will probably devour all the stadium snacks before the ball gets kicked. Meh, whatever, I'm in this for Penny."

"And I won't have to worry about Carrie doing something weird and get the talk from !" Darwin cheered at the missed chance that shouldn't happen just yet. Maybe in the future.

Gumball raised his eyebrows in question, "What are you talking about?"

"You know. When you're dating someone that your parents don't really agree with you dating, and you come back home and they say 'You're not still seeing that ghost girl, are you?' Yeah, that."

"Dude, mom would never say that." Gumball replied as if stating a hard-set fact.

"Yeah, not yet. They haven't met properly and I'm kinda worried about the outcome, knowing how Carrie can be sometimes."

"Oh just relax already. Everything will turn out fine." The two brothers had actually arrived to the class earlier than usual. Normally, they would need to sprint. Even then, they would make it only by a nick of time. And that happened almost every class. It seemed that the excitement had seeped into them too.

Gumball spent his time by doodling a colorful picture of Penny with a cheerleading outfit, kissing him on the cheek. Oh how he wished that the drawing would turn into reality. Perhaps it will, tonight. If he gets the chance to meet up with her after the game. "I can't wait for tonight." He sighed dreamily as he set the pencil down and admired his handiwork.

"And we'll have plenty of time too, since the classes are shortened." Darwin pointed out cheerfully. TV and games until evening, then a date with Carrie in the stadium and after that, the weekend. The timing couldn't be more perfect. It was like a mini holiday.

"Gumball! That's a very nice drawing!" Sarah said on the way to her seat.

"Thanks! I didn't even try." Gumball responded with a small flare of his ego.

Sarah was holding her books notes, and from them, she took out one sheath of paper, "This is what I drew today." She showed it to Gumball. It was a very detailed drawing of one of the Elmore Duck's members, holding Penny in a bridal carry.

"...that's very nice." Gumball finally said after close inspection. There was small amount of jealousy in his voice. "But you know, you could've chosen somebody else for that position. Just saying."

Sarah took a step back with a shocked gasp, "Oh, does Penny know?"

"What are talk about?" Gumball asked and immediately realized what she meant and that she misunderstood him. "What! No, not me! I mean…whatever."

Tobias had leaned over his desk to interject and save them from the awkwardness that is Sarah's real life shipping, "Hey, you guys coming to the game tonight?"

"Of course. Elmore number one…yay." Gumball cheered quietly. Neither Darwin nor Gumball really showed much enthusiasm for football, or sports in general. They were going to go there just because of their respective loved ones. But neither Tobias nor the rest of the class needed to know that.

Tobias switched his attention to the girl sitting, or rather, floating at the other table next to his. "What about you, girl? Will I see you there?" He wiggled his eyebrows flirtatiously, and Carrie rolled her eyes.

It was best to shut him down right there with no mercy. "I'm going because Darwin invited me." She replied with a smug smile and Tobias backed off with a disappointed frown. Her smile turned to a grin of comical evil after, "And to see some carnage! I heard Franklin has gotten brutal this year, they put nine players to hospital in the semi finals."

The were joined by Bobert, who heard them talking about them. "The scariest of them all is said to be the Fever's big brother, Virus. He's responsible for taking down five players alone. Best offensive player in their history."

"Are we still talking football, or a mob fight?" Tobias asked Gumball who shrugged in response, "Aren't they one and the same?"

Sarah perked up at the mention of that particular player, Virus. "Oh yeah, I even drew fanart of him too! Paired him up with one of our own players. Look!" She took out another drawing and showed to the gathered kids.

All the guys immediately turned away with their eyes closed, even Carrie. "Oh come on, Sarah! If we wanted to see something like that, we'd go on ElmoreArt." Gumball shouted in distress and everyone shared a laugh.

It seemed that everyone, the entire class was buzzing with activity. All for one, brooding individual at the corner of the class, hidden from the sight of others by Tina's massive body and her cast shadow. Sitting like a statue, unmoving and unblinking, head propped on his hand. He had a lot on his mind, even though he downed half of his calming substance. Was it really worth it? Staying like this? Dazed and docile, so that everyone...

The bell had rung. And with it, came the ever so excruciating math. Neal stared at his notebook, not writing down anything. It seemed that he was forgettable even to Miss Simian, who took joy in mentally abusing kids.

Neal had to lean for quite a bit to see the board, but that wasn't his intention. He wanted to see if Teri had returned to class. Her seat was still empty. Before class, he heard her announce that she was having some hard to pronounce sickness. And after she left for the nurses office, she hasn't returned. This wasn't the first time that happened, but now it was taking her longer than usual to return. And that worried Neal more than he liked to admit.

After the bell had rung. Everyone filed out of class, the human included. Having nothing better to do, he went to see if the paper girl was okay. It seemed that no one else really cared about her. Which was surprising, considering that she was part of the cheerleading team that will have to perform tonight.

Thankfully, Neal found Teri by her locker. Breathing a sigh of relief, he went to say hello. And he had to stop immediately and hide behind a much bigger student -who was a concrete building block on legs- because he spotted the stick figure with a bomb for the head and classical clothing. Julius, and his buddies again. Neal wasn't exactly in the mood of getting humiliated in front of his crush, so he just hid behind the stone block kid who was giving him weird looks and hoped that they will just carry on with their business without spotting him.

Him and his friends were heading towards Teri. With rising suspicion, he observed them closely. If they were going to do what he thought they will..

And his dreadful suspicion was confirmed. When the girl turned to leave from the locker with books in her hands, they had showed her on the ground. Considering her non-existent weight and the weight of the books, she didn't even get the chance to balance herself, falling right on her face.

A spike of anger immediately pierced Neal's heart. Just as it came, it immediately washed away. Of course, the potion was still in effect. As the cackling group of jerks left, Neal stood up from behind the student and awkwardly thanked him. A snort and the use of his nickname was thrown at Neal like an insult as the stone kid left.

Now came the sad part. Helping her up and keeping his mouth shut that he did nothing even though he wanted to.

And as always, a roadblock presented itself in a form of his roommate Alan. He popped up so suddenly in front of him too. How do these people even manage that? "I saw you being all moody today! Let's go get some fresh air." Alan began dragging him off with the string wrapped around Neal's arm.

"W-wait, I need to…" Neal looked back where the paper girl was, but that spot was empty now. "help her…" He finished with a heavily disappointed sigh.

* * *

The weather outside was beautiful. Warm, not a single cloud outside, with a pleasant breeze gently moving the leaves of the trees that surrounded the playground.

Alan's smile was as bright as the sun. Literally shining like the sun. Neal had to avert his eyes from the brutal light. It seems that people here really do not bend to laws of physics and biology. "I take it you're happy about something." Neal said with his head turned the other way.

"Oh yes. Today is just a perfect day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and there's happiness in the air." Alan worded out each reason with a whimsical tune in his voice. "How could I not be happy? To top it all off, weekend is here! How amazing is that?"

"Yeah, completely…" What was the word he was looking for here? Oh right. "Spectacular."

"Are you okay? You seem a little out of it." Alan said with a bit of concern. His roommate usually smiled more, but now, he had a neutral look, almost constantly.

Well at least Alan dropped that shining smile. It was starting to upset the human. "I'm decent." Neal said without glancing at him.

"Riiiiight." Alan stretched his reply as if not believing him. "Mom said that we all should go to the football final today. You know, as a family." Alan glanced at him with an innocent grin, "And as far as I can see it, you are part of our family."

And this is where it got uncomfortable for Neal. Needing a quick change of topic, he suddenly sprung to life. "Mmh, cool. Hey look!" Neal suddenly pointed into the sky, right at the biggest student in the entire school, Hector. "Why don't we go and say hello to your friend?"

With a jolt of electrify, Alan seemed to become even more alive at Neal's sudden proposal. "He's also your friend too! And that's a brilliant idea, buddy."

"Hahaa! Yeah…" Neal responded with an overexaggerated laugh. Fake. All fake. His smile, his laugh, his energy, his attitude. Again, this nasty change of perspective occurred. Again, the effect has gotten weaker.

They only needed to walk five meters before reaching Hector. Usual 'hello's' were exchanged. Talks about homework, games, after school activities happened.

And as the friends chatted amongst themselves, Neal stayed more silent than he usually was and instead was turning his head around like looking for someone. Strange. Usually at this time, Julius and his buddies would be somewhere close by and throwing insults at him. That or throwing him around.

Of course he couldn't blame anyone else but himself. His own potion made him dumb, constantly relaxed and happy. So relaxed that he outright ignored Julius actions and just carried on like nothing was wrong.

The realization washed over him like a cold, crashing wave. He was pushed around, humiliated, other students laughed at him. He displayed weakness, that he was easy to take advantage of, due to his own clouded mind. And because of that, he wasn't able to be blend in with the others and carry on with his school life calmly. It was his own potion that made him so stupid and dense.

Fishing around in the inner pocket of his jacket, he took out the accursed substance container. Few milligrams of blue happy juice and all the worries go away? Lies. They're there, and getting worse.

He looked at the vial in his hand. At first, he consumed it solely for the purpose to keep himself from acting like a jerk. But the more they pushed him, the more his reasons changed. He only consumed it now for the sole purpose of restraining himself from lashing out. He wanted to turn over a new leaf ever since coming here. To forget the days when with tears in his eyes, he threw kicks and fists at those who were hurting him.

And now, everyone knew him as a weakling who can't even defend himself, one who will be their damn footstool at the beck of call. Even the nickname, it wasn't because of some trait he possessed, it was because it was demeaning. Not only that, but Julius, likely because of Neal, set his sights on Teri as well.

That thought made him make up his mind. It was enough of playing around. His need to stay calm with a tight clamp on his mouth wasn't worth getting laughed at and humiliated constantly. He had enough of being good. If they use it against him, he'll be evil. He tried to be nice with these people, but all that earned him was a city wide ridicule. So he will ridicule them back. They didn't deserve 'Good', and they spat out 'Nice' right back in his face.

He had already hit rock bottom in terms of everything. And now he planned on sinking lower, but not as a tool for everyone's amusement. This damned town will crush him no more. "_Eye for an eye and I will make the world go blind_.."

Neal stood up, walked for a few feet and chucked the vial with all of his strength into the air. It sailed across the sparsely clouded sky and fell somewhere behind the street.

"What…what was that?" Alan asked out of surprised curiosity. That was sudden, what did he throw?

"Something that I should have done ever since coming here." Neal wore a neutral expression, seemingly carved from stone itself. His face didn't show it, but he was turmoil of mixed emotions, the dominant one being irritation. Knowing that it will only grow the more his head clears, made things all the better. Now it was time to solve this problem that he had. He looked at the time on his phone. One more class before school is out. Perfect.

* * *

Neal bit the pencil and moved his leg up and down impatiently. The unpleasant thoughts and encounters swirled in his head, he dissected and re-constructed them. He re-evaluated the entire class. All the people and students he has met so far. All of them sucked. Well, maybe not all of them. Alan, no matter how cold and distant Neal acted towards him and his family, constantly treated him like a friend. He was worth sticking to no matter what.

Teri? Neal was pretty sure she was the only one besides Alan who helped him out without ridiculing him. She was kind, protective girl whom made his heart flutter. Ignoring the rising heat on his cheeks, he leaned to the side to check on her. There she was, sitting in her desk, quietly taking notes. Adorable as always.

And then there were others. People who stood there, and did nothing. Cowards.

He looked at the clock, it was moving so slow. Everything now moved so slow for him. And that irritated him. His classmates mannerisms irritated him. And the thoughts, him getting pushed around, humiliated, just made the irritation grow into anger.

He was clenching the pencil in his hand so tightly, that his hand turned pale. Not a second later, a loud crack came from his hand as his grip turned it to splinters. At the same time, the school bell rang, so no one had heard the loud snap.

Neal was out of the classroom in a heartbeat. He didn't even take his school bag.

Masami, seeing her favorite tool so full of energy, quickly cut off his path. "Oh Neal~ I need some help carrying my bag, can you-"

"Haul it yourself, princess wannabe." He responded without missing a pause and pushed past her.

Masami was taken aback. Maybe she misheard him. "What was that?" She asked, clearly being offended. Neal said something back, but over the clutter of the hallway, it was inaudible.

* * *

Neal stormed into the upper-classroom like he owned the place. He grabbed the first guy by the shirt and pulled him down to his eye level. "Where can I find Julius and his entroponage of nobodies?"

"I...ugh…"

"I don't have all day! Tell me already!" He spat impatiently and shook him by the shirt.

"Behind school. They always hang out behind school!"

Neal released his shirt and made his way out of the classroom, leaving a bunch of students confused.

With shaky hands and fingers, Neal scratched his knuckles as he strode down the hallways. Head hanging low, his focus directed on this annoying itch. Those tiny scars were acting up again. Or maybe this itch was in his mind?

So absorbed in his little distraction before the confrontation, that he didn't see where he was going. All of a sudden, he felt his shoulder bump something.

A cardboard box feel on the ground, a single, coin shaped medallion fell out of it. Neal glanced at the owner of the items, a gothic ghost girl, and what seemed to be her friend, the fish on legs. His classmates. Both were staring at him with displeased looks. No, what truly caught his attention was the medallion that told him to go straight to hell. Right, anything could be alive in this strange town.

Still having not forgotten his manners, he picked up the box and the medallion, the latter of whom suddenly went quiet when Neal grabbed him off the ground. That didn't last long as he showed it back in the box. "Hey, handle me with care, Plague!" The cardboard lid was shut tight and handed back to Carrie.

"_Noisy bastard_." Neal thought with detest lacing his mind. "Next time, don't bring your pets to school." He growled under his breath and went towards his goal.

"What's his problem?" Carrie asked Darwin while following the human boy with clearly upset look. Her boyfriend just shrugged in response and said, "Too much pudding?"

* * *

Neal peeked around the corner of the school. A blocked off alleyway with a fence at the end. No escape. Perfect. And smack dab in the middle, stood his targets. A big, pink, pushy bear. A rat in jeans and a hoodie. Lastly, the stick figure with old button shorts, shoes, gloves and a bomb for a head. Neal couldn't quite make it out what they were doing because all of them were gathered in a circle. There were tiny flashes of light coming from their circle, as if tiny candles were being lit.

Only after the rat backed off with his glove set on fire did Neal finally caught on. They were burning bugs. Gross. Regardless, standing there and observing won't do him any good. The goal was already set in stone and it was time to carry it out.

* * *

Burning bugs wasn't exactly the top tier entertainment, but it was the best they could come up with for now. Especially now, when all of their hang out spots have been claimed by Franklin goons.

"Ey, Julius." Mowdown grunted after squashing another bug and wiping it off on Scar's hoodie. "When are we getting back our hideout?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Julius angrily spat on the ground and set another bug on fire with his lighter. Their pride was hurting. His pride was hurting. Those damned Franklin's took their favorite hang out spots, and now they kicked them out of their own hideout. So now they resorted to hanging around the school, the only place in the entire Elmore where Franklin's goons haven't appeared, yet. To make things even more sour, if they so much as showed their faces around the stadium of the Franklin school, pretty much every student would jump them. So no football finale for them. He swore to get back at those idiots one day. Question was, how? After all, they were outnumbered three to whole school.

Julius put away the lighter and sat back with an angry sigh. The nasty, burnt bug smell was getting annoying. Almost as annoying as the slow clapping that was coming closer. Wait, slow clapping?

All three of them turned their heads around. From the schoolyard, walking towards them was Pudding. He stopped short few feet away from them and stopped clapping. "So you downgraded from kids to bugs. Making progress I see."

Julius and his friends shared looks of confusion amongst themselves. They didn't say anything at first, just stood up and waited to see what did this useless idiot wanted.

"What, no warm greetings for your 'friend'?" Neal asked in dramatically hurt voice.

"What do you want, trash bag?" Julius sneered angrily. He wasn't in the mood to play around.

"What I want, is for you to bug off. Ha! Get it?" Stern faces and angry glares. Right, no one jokes around in situations like these. Clearing his throat again, Neal tried again. "I want you to stop bothering me. Easy request, is it not?"

All three of them laughed. Through the hearty laugh, Mowdown managed to choke out, "Awh, would you look at that. Little Puddin' is getting angry. Go take a nap, kid."

"I will, if you piss off from me." Neal stubbornly stood his ground. No going back now.

"And if we don't, what then?" Scar asked with a croaky, growling voice that didn't fit the kid his size.

Neal didn't respond at first. Was it really worth it? Getting in trouble with these guys? They probably will bully him more if he doesn't. And Teri, they will go for her next. He saw the proof today. Yeah, it's worth it. "I will force you to stop. Easy as that."

Now that piqued the leaders interest in a bad way. His smile dropped almost immediately. Was Pudding, the same loser who got turned into a joke by everyone, threatening him? Of all the students, him? Julius came closer to Neal, his posture changed into one of aggression, "Are you now? Whatcha going to do about it, eh? Pudding?" He asked in a threateningly low tone.

In the end, it had come to this. "So be it." He quietly said. Neal clenched his fist and gritted his teeth out of sheer anger. Glare cold as steel and devoid of any light cut through their group like butter. "**I will break you.**"

-End of chapter 10, part 1-

Authors note: Alright boys and girls, hold on to your panties, time for a rating change.


	11. Chapter 11

Change of a long day

Part 2

"B…break me?" Julius repeated. Maybe he misheard him? He burst out into a fit of laughter. His friends did the same. The thought alone was worthy of another string of memes on Elmore Plus. Not only Neal's threat was hilarious, it was outright stupid. As if he could lay a hand on Julius.

"Put up your fists, pansy." Neal sneered and took off his glasses. Putting them away in the inner side of his jacket, he began to unbutton it in preparation.

All laughter immediately died down after Neal's less than scared reply. "You can't be serious." Julius responded with all manner of joking around gone.

Neal answered him by taking off his jacket. He dropped it on a more clean spot of ground and cracked his knuckles. With an even darker gray color of his long sleeved shirt, he now looked even more bland and tasteless. Only brighter colors left on him were the sneakers that were green and his hair which was blonde.

Seeing no indication that Neal was joking, Mowdown and the rest of Julius's friends began to circle around Neal in preparation to jump him right then and there.

"Yo, back up." Julius ordered while stepping forward into the circle, his body held loose and relaxed. If the 'short joke' wanted a brawl, he was going to get one. "I wanna fight this fool solo. Get out your phone and tape this, it'll be hilarious." Finally, he will get to blow off some steam after constant disappointment and disrespect from Franklin. His friends listened to his order and gave them space. Scar took out his phone and began recording what was about to happen.

"Oh this is gonna be hilarious." Scar said to Mowdown with an evil grin.

"Heck yeah it will. We should upload it after this make some serious dough out of it." Mowdown rubbed his fluffy hands together, already feeling the money flowing in.

* * *

There are certain things one should not do in a fight. One of those is dance around your opponent with an easily exploitable position of hands and legs and throw insults at him. Unfortunately, that's what Julius was currently doing.

Neal was keenly aware of what this was. He saw many videos online in regards to how people in America fought. In his country, it was referred to as 'chicken dance'. Especially prominent in schoolyard fights where kids would circle each other and throw flimsy punches or kicks, thus keeping each other at a distance. Coward tactics.

"Didn't come here to dance." Neal growled under his breath and took a confident step towards Julius. The taller teen threw a lousy punch. Neal caught it by the forearm, pulled Julius in, and rammed his elbow directly into the side of his head. Neal released him at the point of impact, and the stick figure stumbled backwards. "I'm here to fight. So I will not repeat myself again-"

The taller teen was stunned and surprised by the quick shot. So where his friends too.

"-Put up your fists. Pansy." Neal demanded. He took a combative stance, arms hovering above head, held loose. Back, slightly hunched.

Julius rubbed the sore spot on his round head and rolled his shoulders. "Okay then." He raised his fists, this time, he held himself firmly. He was focused and actually observed Neal and his movements.

The surprise factor was gone. Now it was only a matter of skill in this match-up. Circling each other, the two teens waited for the opportunity to strike. Mowdown and Scar both watched them intently without opening their mouths as this particular situation was highly unexpected. Neal was the first one to make a move.

Closing the small distance between them, Neal launched a series of quick jabs. His opponent shielded his head and the jabs hit his forearms. He then spread them out the second another jab hit him, bashing Neal's fists away and forcing him to take a step back. Julius quickly came in with a wide swing of his fist and Neal ducked underneath it, placing a quick palm strike on his side and coming out to face his back.

Julius stumbled a little and re-adjusted his stance, turning his body around to quickly face Neal again.

Neal could've kneeled him in the thigh or stomach at that particular moment, but chose against it. He still had one ace up his sleeve, after all, his new debut has to be shocking and surprising.

"So you know how to throw hands, big deal." Julius grumbled loud enough that Neal could hear it.

"Considering how I acted before, it kinda is." Neal replied with a tiniest hint of a smirk on his lips.

"You think you're being cute?"

"Stank-breath, I'm adorable."

Julius gritted his teeth, the white color of his head tinged with red and a vein bulged out. The fuse that dangled on top of his head began to smoke. "You're asking to end up head first in a trash can."

Neal didn't miss the change in his opponents appearance. He did have a legit bomb for a head, and if that were to go off...Perhaps it is for the best to shut up and continue swapping blows for now. "Come then, grant me my request."

Hunched over, fists covering his face, low enough to peek over his knuckles, Julius attacked. An actual form of boxing, which caught Neal by surprise. It seemed that Mister Sulfur-mouth was taking this fight seriously now.

This time, his punches came in straight at the target, fast and strong. Neal avoided the first jab, ducked the second, his counterpunch from the right was blocked by an elbow, he missed the left swing as Julius ducked way too quickly, barely blocked the third with his forearm and fourth jab caught him right in the face as it flew way too fast.

Neal's head snapped back from the blow, and he definitely felt the painful sting cover his face. Julius's fists were big, they easily covered his entire face, thankfully the shot was somewhat softened by the white gloves Julius wore.

Yet that jab created a problem. His nose took the brunt of the blow, and everyone knew that when hit in the nose, you can't avoid tears that pool in your eyes. Which posed a massive danger now that he couldn't see properly.

Neal took rapid steps back to gain some distance, with only one eye barely open, he saw the blur of a tall, black figure closing in. By the time he blinked out the tears, hits were raining down on him. Shielding his head and face, Neal clenched his jaw and suffered through the onslaught, but he couldn't afford to wait until his opponent tired himself out.

He had to make him back off somehow. Ignoring a strike that hit him up top his head, Neal turned his upper body, putting as much weight behind the incoming hook punch as possible. He aimed it right into Julius's lower side. However, he only bruised him as his punch sailed past the mark. Neal's opponent was too thin to be caught with an attack like that. Taking note of that, he wound up his right hand and launched an uppercut, and again, his knuckles barely scratched Julius's chin as the taller teen stepped backwards.

Judging by the gush of wind that blew on his face, Julius felt relieved that he didn't decide to take the attack.

Neal grinned in his mind. The way Julius executed the punches, his flow of movement and general strength. Skill or natural talent, Neal didn't know, nor he cared right now. But he knew that what he was witnessing is boxing. A bare bones version of it, but from the stance and movement, it was definitely boxing. That also explained why he blocked more than dodged and stood his ground.

Having gained a second to collect himself, Neal lunged forward and chained four punches into his enemies cross guard in quick succession. Searing sensation soon spread on his knuckles, they felt like they were on fire. Only now did he notice red stains on Julius's gloves. And they definitely didn't belong to the stick figure. The sharp sting of striking with unprotected hands, it was as painful as it was exhilarating. It gave him focus, made him feel truly alive in the moment.

Julius, feeling the pain course through his forearms from the rapid attacks, finally retaliated. Those boney knuckles hurt. He threw a fast jab with his right, to which Neal leaned out of the way and rammed his fist into Julius' side, this time, it was as precise as it was powerful.

But to Neal's great surprise, Julius tanked the blow and retaliated. Who would've thought that a stick figure could have this much endurance. All of a sudden, Neal's foot was stomped, keeping him in place and preventing him from getting away. "_Damn it!" _All Neal could do was shield his head again, but his enemy already expected as much and went for his stomach and ribs.

Only after the second strike to the left ribs did Neal realize that he repeated his guard. He could feel the air getting knocked out of him and that wasn't a state he wanted to be put in. His foot was still held in place. Neal lunged, bending forward the same leg that was kept in place. His knee stuck Julius's knee and for the first time since the fight began, the taller teen felt actual grip of pain sink its claws into his leg.

Julius stepped off of his foot, his head turning beet red out of anger. How dare this idiotic four-eyes pretend that he can do something more than be a damn punching bag.

Julius ducked below another swing sent by Neal and stepped in with his fist drawn back. A precise hook punch landed in his gut. Julius carried Neal with the swing, fully extending his arm and sending Neal sliding for a few feet. The shorter blonde was forced to kneel and cough for air once he came to a stop.

There was way more strength behind that attack than it should've been. It didn't make any sense, a thin stick figure with barely any meat on his bones shouldn't have such strength or endurance.

Julius stood in the same spot for a moment, keenly observing Neal as the kid stayed petrified by the heavy blow. Julius then spun around and threw up his hands in the air.

"And the P-U-D-I-N-G goes down for the count, ladies and gentlemen!" Scar yelled out with a victorious laugh. He tried his best to capture everything with his phone so they could watch it later. Mowdown nodded along with a big, toothy grin. While they definitely didn't expect for the joke of an idiot to know how to throw a punch, this entire ordeal was way more exciting than expected. After all, such fights rarely happened.

And while Julius was strutting around in front of the camera, flexing his skinny arms and gloating about his victory, Neal was still kneeling on the ground and feeling the last attack. He felt sore. And he could taste a familiar red substance in his mouth. So the bastard had some serious skill in regards to boxing. What's more, that burst of strength.

"Start the countdown, yo!" Mowdown nudged Scar. The rat nodded with an excited grin and ran up to Neal, camera pointed at his hunched over form.

"Ten!" Scar screeched right in Neal's ear. The short teen balled his fists. What an annoying parasite this powder faced bastard was.

"Nine!" It wasn't always that Scar could stand above somebody else, so he had to enjoy this opportunity while it lasted. He even placed his foot on his back like brought Neal down.

"Eight!" Again, in his ear. It was enough of taking a breather.

"Seve-" Five fingers clamped down on Scars muzzle, preventing him from opening his mouth again. The rat's whiskers twitched in surprise.

Through the blonde bangs, a wrath filled gaze of dark blue nearly made Scar pee his pants. "Take your leg off, or I will make your foot face backwards." Scar was released, and he went running back to hide behind his friends.

Mowdown and Julius both turned around. Ever so slowly, Neal rose to his feet. He stretched out his back with a pained groan. Oh he will be feeling it in the morning.

Julius and Mowdown glanced at each other, realizing that the fight wasn't over yet. The stick figure re-adjusted his bow tie, dusted off his shorts and stepped back in the metaphorical ring with his signature smirk. "So, the Pudding refuses to be thrown out easily, that's a surprise!" Julius sarcastically applauded Neal, who didn't respond to his teasing. Julius's clapping stopped after a second and his face grew serious again. "And I took you for a melting kind."

Choosing to ignore the insulting jabs, Neal cut right to the case, "Aah, that foot stomp, a cheap one. I admire the way you fight." Neal complimented with a cold grin. He couldn't let him see that his attacks were getting to him. Oh they were, his entire upper body was aching, from the waist to the top of his head. And that insane stomach punch, he was definitely still feeling it.

It was time to fight for real, no messing around. "But look." Neal began, relaxing his hands and beginning to bounce on his feet, "That old school boxing crap doesn't cut it anymore. You gotta use your entire body. Like so."

Neal charged him and Julius was ready and fully expecting some lame kung-fu flying kick that's easy to dodge.

What he didn't expect to see was Neal's knee flying straight into his chin. A loud noise of bone meeting bone cut through the alleyway. Even Julius's buddies stared in awe with mouths agape. Julius nearly fell over his head, only his firm stance prevented that from occurring.

The real combat had begun. Neal had abandoned the 'boxing' tactics and went with his own way of fighting.

Once Neal's feet touched the ground, he attacked with his fist. But Julius was quick to recover, even after an attack like that. Enough to dodge the first punch and respond with an overhand punch of his own. Neal blocked it, his forearm against Julius's forearm, stopping the attack in place before it could reach him.

He then slid his hand forward, grabbing Julius by the shoulder and raising his elbow, thus putting Julius's arm at a distance. Neal placed a solid hold on Julius's neck with his other hand, grabbing him in a clinch. A moment later, utter slaughter ensued.

Neal sent a kick after kick into his left side, each time, the pain just kept adding up. Neal's shin felt like a baseball bat against his body. After two rapid kicks to Julius's side, Neal sent a vicious knee strike to finish the tree-part attack and followed up with a shin strike against the side of Julius's knee. His leg buckled, but Neal wasn't done. He attacked the same knee from the inner side of the leg with a painful stomp. His stance crumbled immediately with an explosion of agonizing pain. There wasn't even enough time to yell or scream.

Neal released his hold on Julius's arms at the same time, thus letting him collapse on himself.

While Julius was trying to push himself up on one arm, coughing and sputtering over such a sudden downfall and his aching body, Neal stalked around him in circles. He occasionally cast a glance over his shoulder, in case Julius's friends decide to jump in. But from the dumbfounded expressions that they had, that shouldn't happen. At least, not yet.

Lots of silent cursing alerted Neal, his opponent was back in action, sort of. Only one fist raised, limping on one leg and a furious glare directed his way. "Yeah, I know that feeling. Your ribs all messed up. Maybe you can't raise your left arm. Same for your leg, no pressure on it otherwise it'll sting like crazy." He explained to the older teen as he came to a stop a few feet away from him.

Unfortunately, what applied back in his country on humans, didn't really seem to apply to these inhuman creatures. Julius, although wincing from the burning pain in his side, still raised his left arm and formed a fist. And his limp wasn't nearly as bad as Neal expected it to be. Which was absolutely unfair in his opinion. "_Oh you gotta be kidding me. Is everyone super powered in this crazy ass town? Damned be cartoon logic." _

Neal was feeling the exhaustion set in, to make matters worse, the damage he sustained was becoming more and more apparent, especially to his knuckles. The latter of whom was one of the reasons why he switched out from punches to kicks. He needed to get this over with, but not before sending a message to those monsters around him.

"I have some bad news-" Neal began, loosening up his stance and beginning to bounce on his feet, "This is ending with you looking like a loser." He began advancing, quickly and methodically.

Only now realizing the full extent of what Pudding was capable of, Julius felt unsure about pulling a victory. He considered calling for help from his friends, but in doing so, he would appear like a total coward. Running from Pudding of all people wasn't an option too. It was for the best to carry on and land a knockout blow. Hopefully.

Neal was the first to launch an attack by sending a left high kick aimed at Julius's head. Yet when Julius blocked it with both hands, he felt that it was way too light, it didn't have the weight or momentum behind it.

The left kick, was a feint. Julius caught on too late. Neal already switched out his legs, the right shin crashed into the side of Julius's head with enough force to rip him off the ground and put swirly stars in his vision.

Before he knew it, Julius felt the cold, hard surface underneath his back as the world once more spun around, this time so fast that everything blurred into one mess.

Everything went silent besides the distant chatter of kids leaving the school. They had no idea of what transpired in the alley hidden by the schools shadow, nor did they need to know. Neal nudged Julius with his shoe to check on him. He only received groans as a response. More silence followed. Mowdown didn't know what to say, he stared at the prone form of what he believed was their smart and strong friend/leader of the trio with his mouth agape. Scar was rendered speechless, phone in his hand was shaking as the recording still continued. What he believed to be the strongest, alpha of all alphas now laid on the ground, taken out by someone who was at the bottom of the established pecking order.

Neal on the other hand, had to tie up some loose ends. "Well, what are you waiting for?" He asked, aggressiveness lacing his growl. He turned around to look at the two, utterly stunned students with a challenging snarl. "I just laid out your baby boy. Bring it!"

* * *

Scythe was annoying. A quick rat. But went down after a well placed palm strike to the jaw. It was Mowdown that posed the biggest problem for Neal. Big guy certainly had a lot of strength. Alas, he didn't use it properly. Shin strike to the back of his knee made him kneel under his own massive weight. After that, it was only a matter of grabbing the nearest trash can lid. No way he was going to scrape his knuckles more.

Neal backed up against a wall and slid down to sit on the ground. His everything felt sore. "Well, that certainly happened. Ouchies." He said to himself in a slightly dazed manner. There was no glory in what he did, nor he took pride in his actions. But it had to be done.

"_Note to self, if I have to fight again, use elbows more than punches._" After all, he didn't expect such endurance from Julius. And who knew how durable were those Franklin guys, who seemed to get more numerous and aggressive in the area.

Regardless, after the adrenaline wears down, Neal knew that he will feel way worse. He checked his jacket, brushed off any dust that might've been on it and put on his glasses again. An action considerably harder to do now that he has inspected the damage.

Question was, what to do with the four scraped knuckles on each hand? Nevermind the fact that the tiny scars dotting each one will grow in number again. Stuff hands into the pockets and hope no one notices? No, that's just idiotic. Go to the school nurse? No, the questions that would follow would be hard to explain.

Fortunately, a clear as day mind, meant faster, deeper thinking. Neal had missed this feeling of heightened awareness. Even if he felt miserable and saw the world for what it truly was. Ignoring that thought, he had someone in this school.

* * *

Teri sat down on the bench of the playground and sighed. Finally, the school had cleared out. All those that remained were the teachers, the football team and the girls from her team. Now she had some peace and quiet to calm down and collect herself. This moment of silence was very much welcome and even needed, considering what was coming tonight.

One more practice before the big show. She felt worried to say the least. No, this was much worse. Performing in front of hundreds, possibly thousands of people is no small undertaking. Teri kept repeatedly checking her pulse just to make sure she wasn't going to have a heart attack due to her stress. Perhaps she should just go to the hospital and get herself checked? No, not this time. She couldn't use her suspicions of a heart function failure as an excuse to weasel out of this. After all, she wanted to be a cheerleader, she wanted to be someone, not just that one girl everyone will remember for suddenly fainting in the class because she thought a mosquito bite poisoned her blood. Even though she had no blood to begin with. Spectacular! Thinking about it only made her heart drum faster.

There was no running from the responsibility that she put on herself. And now she was internally freaking out and twirling her thumbs rapidly. Why did she sign up for this? Nobody told her she'll have to do acrobatics in front of such a tremendous crowd.

A small pebble landed by her legs. Perfect! A distraction is exactly what she needed right now. Teri looked around with her eyebrow raised. She found Neal waving her over behind the corner of the school.

Wondering what he might need, she approached him with a little caution. After all, meeting behind the school was a little strange. "Did you threw that rock?" She asked in a more than displeased tone and Neal answered with a nod. "Do you know what would've happened if you h-?" Only from up close did Teri notice how haggard he looked.

His jacket rugged, not straightened out like it usually was. There was dust all over his gray jeans and shoes. Blonde hair dishevelled. At first, she was displeased, then, slightly disgusted, and now, irritated. Putting her hands on her hips, she re-inspected his appearance with a critical eye, "Do tell, what happened? Did those jerks did something to you again?" Teri asked, drawing her conclusions early on. Oh she was so reporting them all to the principal.

"Close, but no prize." Neal answered. Teri had the classic 'explain to me' look on her face.

Deciding to cut straight to the point, he asked, "You said your mother was a doctor?"

"Yeah, why?" She asked, suspicious as to where he was going with this.

"Well…" Neal pulled his hand from his pocket and lifted it up for Teri to see. The bear girl covered her mouth to keep herself from shrieking as she backed away. Neal's hands, specifically all eight of his knuckles were bruised very painfully. "I need your help."

"Is that, b-b-b-blo-" She stammered out of rising fear and disgust, not being able to even finish the sentence. Seeing the pictures on her mother's website was one, but seeing it for real, in front of her eye's, was a completely different experience. A horrific one at that.

"Yes." Neal replied and managed a painful smile. "Got any disinfectant?"

She swallowed hard and with a shaky voice replied, "You g-got to s-see the n-nurse." Teri tried her best to look anywhere but that painful sight.

"I can't!" He denied her suggestion without even thinking about it.

"W-why!? Look your h-hands!" Teri began to feel upset in the stomach. And lightheaded.

"The nurse, she'll ask what happened, I can't tell her that I got hit by a…that I got into a fight." Neal decided to be honest with Teri, mainly because he stopped caring at this point. The pain was becoming more apparent and soon he'll be whining in agony if his little problem wasn't going to be taken care of. "Then the principal will learn of this, after that, I might be kicked out, and I can't, I just can't be kicked out of this school." With each word he got more desperate, his voice cracking every so often. "And I can't go home looking like this either!"

Teri couldn't refuse even if she wanted to. She was actually going to call an ambulance, or even drag him to the hospital herself, even if it meant that she'll arrive late to her last practice. But judging by what Neal said, he didn't want anyone finding out about his injuries, or that he got into a fight. Taking a deep breath, Teri gestured towards the bench that she recently got off. "Go wait there, I'll be right back."

* * *

"You're dumb."

"I know."

"You're dumber than Darwin and Gumball."

"I'm aware."

"Dumber than Jamie."

"You're right."

"Number than that rock."

"Mhm."

Getting scolded by a girl who also happens to be born of paper, a humanoid and a bear, whom he also has a crush on. After having a fight with a live plush toy, a rat, and a stick figure. Did the plane that was taking him to America jumped to another dimension? Since when did life get so random?

Neal's left hand was bandaged up completely and some might say, it was done by a professional. More surprising was the fact that he didn't feel a thing. When it came to bandaging his right, their eyes met for a second and Neal immediately glanced away.

How gentle and careful she was being with him. And she was right next to him too. He felt the blood rushing to his cheeks and he had to hide his face with his free hand before she noticed. "_Okay, chill out, cowboy. Don't start getting any ideas just yet._ _Take it slow._"

"Why did you get into a fight?" Teri asked while expertly wrapping up his damaged hand.

"Because I had to. Those di-" Right, no heavy cursing allowed. Man, sometimes it really sucks to be around younger, innocent people. And only by one year too, what are the odds. "-those jerks weren't going to leave me alone. So I did the logical thing."

"They used violence to have fun. I used violence to stop their fun. Fight fire with fire." He elaborated.

"And you think that violence is the answer to everything?"

There was no point in sugar coating anything here. So he gave her an honest answer. "Most of the time, yes."

Teri tightened the bandages around Neal's knuckles to discipline him, causing Neal to hiss in pain. Clearly, that was the wrong answer. "Hey! Come on. You saw what they were like. How they kept pushing me, trying to get a rise out of me. Keep messing around with chemicals and eventually you'll get a reaction."

She had a lot of things to say in regards to how Neal dealt with this. There were definitely other ways, but she already had enough on her mind as it is. "If that's what you think, I'm surprised that you're still not in the detention class." She sighed in response.

"I play my cards carefully. Most of the time. I think it's about time for me to change that." Neal could tell her that he previously operated on half the brain capacity. If his head was clear from the very first day, he might have ended up in the detention class. But at least he wouldn't have given everyone the impression that he was a pushover. No, that part he will keep to himself. Only Alan knew and it will stay that way.

"There. All done." Teri released Neal's hand with a huff. This certainly helped her to relax a little. And her stomach wasn't nearly as upset as before since his hands were taken care of properly.

"Wow. You're amazing." Neal murmured while inspecting her work. The bandages were wrapped tightly enough, going around each of his fingers and thumbs. Yet not tightly enough to cause pain or discomfort. If he had tried to do this on his own, it wouldn't have looked or felt nearly as good. "Thank you." He felt genuine gratitude for her, but there wasn't much he could do to thank her other than with words.

"No problem. I just hate seeing people in pain. That's all." It was strange seeing her classmate talk and behave so differently. Although that didn't let her get distracted from the thing that really mattered, "Be sure to shower once you're home, from the look of your clothes, you rolled around on the ground for a bit."

"Yeah, I will. Don't worry." Neal replied and checked his clothes while thinking to himself, "_I hate seeing people in pain_. _Man, she is amazing."_

Both kids fell silent. Neither of them knew what to say, and Neal didn't really feel like going home either. After all, they were alone now. Sitting so close to each other. And again, Neal's blood pressure spiked. He had to say something. This was yet another perfect opportunity. Besides, he will never get anywhere if he keeps his mouth shut.

"Big day, huh?" Neal eventually asked.

"I guess you can say that." And now her worries were slowly returning. Just great.

Neal didn't have a ton of experience in talking to the girls, but he always heard that confidence is the key. Perhaps he should try flirting, or teasing her a little? "So, I have a question. Will you be wearing one of those two piece cheerleading uniforms?"

His question caught her by surprise. "What!? N-no! What brought this up?"

Neal shrugged, smiling innocently he responded, "Nothing, I was just wondering if I'll get to see you in a hot costume is all." He tried his absolute best not to stutter and contain his raging blush, "You're already plenty of cute, add 'hot' into the mix and that will make me get the front seat tickets."

Never before been called cute, or complimented at all, it was hard for Teri to ignore what he said. From accelerated heart beat and the feeling of blazing red cheeks, Teri was almost convinced that she suddenly had a fever. "Can't s-say that I will." She barely stuttered out the words.

"Oh. Reality is quite often disappointing." Was her classmates answer in a dramatically serious and sad tone. Now she wasn't sure if she could form a cohesive answer from her surprise. This was quite literally coming out of nowhere. And to make matters even more embarrassing, did he seriously want to see her in a skimpy two piece outfit?

On the other side of the bench, Neal couldn't take his eyes off Teri. He was right with his first impressions, she was adorable. Her unique charm attracted him. And from the way she was squirming in her seat, blushing madly and staring holes into the ground, he probably succeeded in sending a message that he was interested in her.

Clearing her throat, Teri attempted to carry on with the conversation, "Well, there is no price tag this time. It's a school event after all. So you can come watch the game for free."

"I'm definitely not going for the game." Neal replied with a wink, hoping that she will catch on to what he meant.

"And do tell why are you going then?" Teri asked, absolutely oblivious to what Neal implied.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head with a quiet laugh, "Hah. To see you perform, obviously." He glanced at her, not shying away from making direct eye contact, "What, you think I would miss your awesome performance after you hyped it up so much for the past few days?"

Unbeknownst to Neal, he not only reminded her of what's coming tonight, he actually managed to put more pressure on her. Teri did say that she trained a lot with her team, but will it be enough to inspire their team and put on an amazing show? All of that, without embarrassing herself or her friends. Again, Teri began to feel like she will hurl out of stress. "How do you know it will be awesome? It could be the worst you will ever bear witness to! All because of me" She flailed her arms around, the panic and worry overtaking her.

Neal, seeing the state she was putting herself in, attempted to soothe her worries without giving himself away, "With all the training that you did, you won't be able to mess up even if the worst stage fright hits you." Neal spoke while checking out the bandages on his hands. "When you repeat a motion over and over again, your body records it and you start doing it automatically." This was as close as he could get to adapting the concept of 'muscle memory' to someone with no actual muscles. "Besides, you have the experience, you have the skills, you have dedication and drive. And you have perfect grades, which means you're smart." Neal named almost all her qualities that made him fall for her.

He returned his gaze to her eyes again, this time growing more serious, "So yeah, it will be awesome, because you're awesome." He spoke with full confidence as if presenting only facts and evidence.

Neal's words did manage to calm her down a little. "Yeah, I did train like crazy for the past few days. I have nothing to be afraid of!" She said with a determined look. One last practice and then she'll take the bull by its horns.

Neal smiled to himself. Finally, someone who actually listened. And from the look of pure determination that she had, Teri will do absolutely amazing. "Heck yeah, that's the spirit. Show them who's the boss."

Teri all of a sudden realized that she stayed here for too long, she had practice to attend to. "Oh no. Do you know what time it is now?"

"The time? Yeah, let me just-"

Before Neal could take out his cellphone, Teri seemingly out of nowhere took out a pencil. She drew a pocket on herself and from that pocket, took out a phone. A paper one, much like her. In a form of a smartphone. And it functioned just like a regular phone.

Neal looked at her like she was an alien or some kind of wizard. "What kind of witchcraft…?" He silently murmured to himself. Now it was his turn to be surprised. Or rather, confused. He closely observed how she deposited her 'phone' back into the 'pocket' and erased it with the pencil eraser.

Of course to Teri, it looked like he was staring right at her chest from up close. Feeling the heat on her cheeks return, she stood up while covering herself out instinct. "Ahem! Well then, I'm going to go now." She said, her voice returning to normal, if not a little shaky.

Being woken up out his questioning of universal laws, Neal sprung to his feet too. "Ah yes, of course." Teri was shying away from him a little too much. Did he do something wrong? "So, I'll see you tonight I guess."

"Yeah, yeah. Be sure to come." Teri said as she rushed to get to the final gathering of her team. Wait, why did she say that? She shook her head. No, she needed to focus, after all, this event was important.

Neal watched her go as he sighed dreamily. No, he will not miss her performance, not in a million years.

* * *

Alan happily hummed to himself as he cleaned the kitchen stove with a rag on his string. He already done the dishes after lunch. And there were still some chores to do before dinner.

Usually, Neal would help him with the dishes, but now, he wasn't present during lunch. Just as Alan began to wonder what held him up for so long, he heard the front door open and close. He floated out of the kitchen to welcome his friend back.

"Heyah, Neal! How are you-" He stopped mid sentence when he saw Neal taking off his shoes. He had bandages wrapped around his palms. "Whoa! Neal what-"

"Nothing." Neal jabbed his hands into the jacket pockets and jogged up the stairs quickly, leaving behind Alan to question what could've happened to him. Neal ducked inside his shared room and closed the door shut.

A change of clothes was in order. After that, he needed to figure out how to hide the bandages on his hands. Just as he removed his jacket, he heard the door knob move. Neal was by the door and holding it firmly shut by the second. "Don't come in! I'm changing!"

"Oh! Sorry, dear!" It was Alan's mother, Jessica. "I just wanted to know if you're coming with us to the football game tonight!"

"Yeah, I'd like to tag along if that's okay with you!" He asked over the door.

"Of course! Oh, and could you come down to help Alan with the chores?"

"Yeah, I'll be down in a moment." Neal replied as if distracted by something else as his mind was set on other things.

Gloves. He needed gloves until he could remove the bandages. Did he bring any? He checked the wardrobe, all of his usual clothes besides Alan's ties. He checked the bottom drawer. He had brought a box of rubber gloves for alchemy, and a pair of gloves for winter. Thankfully, they were fingered gloves, not the full enclosing kind.

He slipped them on. Perfect. Gloves will be easier to explain than why his hands were bandaged. He also switched his clothes, gray jeans to black skinny jeans, a gray jacket with a zipper and white tennis shoes.

After the said chores were done, there were questions as to why he wore gloves indoors and during the spring of all times. "I'm just cold." No more questions were asked after that.

A quick nap and early dinner later, the entire Keane family, plus Neal set out towards the stadium.

The drive wasn't quite what Neal expected as the family broke out into some kind of a song, but it didn't bother him that much. What bothered him was the fact that they tried to get him to sing.

Even more bothersome was the fact that the parking lot near the stadium was packed. And people, so many people from the entire Elmore were gathering to the stadium. It took them quite a long time to find a spot. Of course they would have been parked a lot sooner if Dexter -Alan's father- didn't let some pink, fat bunny man cut him off and park first.

Eventually, they decided to park outside of the stadium. Two blocks away from Franklin's school. All the corners of the street were jam packed with parked cars and people, all heading to the stadium near the school. So their car ended up parked at the end of the street.

And the people. By all that is holy, the people. Neal's eyes began to hurt from all the differently colored beings that traveled towards the stadium. It was something straight out of a child's imagination. Neal re-adjusted his glasses and kept his eyes solely on the back of Alan. He didn't really want to lose sight of them in this mass of people. Since Keane's were balloons, they floated above people's and got ahead. And unfortunately for Neal, he had to squeeze through the masses. He lost count of how many times he got poked in the rear by a sharp edge, bumped by someone who didn't even have legs, or his elbow brushed against someone who was slimy.

By the time he reached the stadium, he completely lost Alan and his family. But that hardly mattered, he'll find them eventually, and the game was far from starting. There were a lot of shops set up by the stadium, colorful tents, hotdog carts and root beer stands. Even temporary attractions for children. All of this began to look less like a football event and more like a carnival. Franklin's stadium was just as big as the neighboring schools, if not a little bigger. An enclosed box of concrete, from which the lamp lights shone into the darkening sky of Elmore. The entrances were packed full of people who wanted to get in quickly, so until they cleared up, Neal decided to hang around outside.

Despite so many different individuals, they behaved like normal people. Except for those dressed in red. There was a very clear difference between the fans of the game, ones dressed in blue belonged to Elmore junior high, the ones dressed in red, to Franklin. And everyone could feel the tension in the air.

Neal put some distance between himself and the stadium as there was one more thing he wanted to see. The infamous Franklin school that produced a ton of hoodlums that not only terrorized Elmore junior high, but vandalized other people's property. Although after the game, it should stop, whatever the outcome might be.

It was a good distance away from the stadium, but one could still spot it's shadowy outline in the distance. And it looked like a normal building, three stores high, rows of windows on both sides. What caught his attention was another, bigger building besides the school. Four stores high, with balconies near each of the windows, painted deep shade of red. A dormitory? Why would a simple school even need that?

And his assumption was correct. He noticed few students leaving the building. One was dressed in full football gear, flanked by what Neal assumed were his friends and fans.

Not wanting to get spotted by those who cause relentless trouble, he headed back towards the stadium. The entrance should be more clear now, so getting in won't be such a huge hassle.

Neal mentally braced himself for what he assumed will be a very boring time until the cheerleaders roll out. "Okay, let's see what everyone is so excited about."

-End of chapter 11, part 2-


	12. Chapter 12

Change of a long day

Part 3

Neal honestly didn't care for what team to root for. All he wanted to do was get into the stadium, find Alan and his parents and see Teri perform. That was it. He didn't ask nor want to wait in line with sweaty, crazed football fans who where growling at each other because they supported different teams. He needed a distraction, something to pass the time while the place clears up and he could get inside without much trouble, or bumping into another sweaty fat guy made of yellow jelly.

Near the stadium, behind the bleachers, two temporary shopping tents were built. One was red, belonging to Franklin High and the other one was Blue, belonging to Elmore Junior high. Neal decided to check it out for the heck of it.

Both tents were filled with respective team merchandise. And both stands were run by people dressed in full football gear. Helms, shirts, gloves, pants. One fully red, the other, fully blue. And it looked like they were having quite the time selling their merchandise to people.

"Sir! Would you like to abandon Ducks and root for Franklin Sharks today?" Said the red player to a passing Duck's fan who had a blue cap with a logo of a duck.

"Little girl! I'll trade you that doll for an Elmore Duck's shirt." Said the blue player to a passing girl.

"...stupidest pitch I've ever heard." Commented the red one on the other booth.

"It worked before." Retorted the blue player.

"Of course it worked, on Ducks!"

"Oh yeah? You wanna go right now!?"

Before it could escalate into a fist fight, both salesmen noticed Neal, idly standing between the tents, checking the merchandise.

The blue player cleared his throat, "Hello, would you like to root for Shar...Ducks, tonight?"

"Pfft."

"Shut up."

Neal checked the various merch in both tents. They were all the same, except for the colors. Not that enticing. "I'm just trying to figure out which team to root for. Do you perhaps have any pamphlets I could look at?

The red player tilted his head slightly as he hummed in thought, "Well, we're actually all out of propaganda right now."

"I think you mean, paraphernalia." Corrected the blue one.

"You watch your goddamn mouth."

"I think I'm gonna go with 'screw both your teams' team. How 'bout that?" Neal turned on his heel and went on his merry way. Yep, this town is bonkers.

* * *

The time has come. Hotdogs, check. Soda, check. A seat from which the whole field is perfectly visible, check. Cute ghost girl a seat next to him, check. Darwin had everything he would have wished for tonight. However, one minute detail irked him. His entire family was right next to him, and were acting a little childish. Especially his dad.

Mustard on his shirt, soda dripping down his chin, ten hotdogs in one hand and a bag of home brought snacks in a bag under his seat. Gumball wasn't a saint either. Exact opposite actually. He didn't even say 'hello' to Carrie when they met. He was so absorbed in his thoughts about Penny that even the ice cream he brought melted down on his hand. It seemed that he was in some kind of meditative state, his eyes were focused solely on the entrance into the football field as he waited for his one true love to appear.

Of course, they were his family, each family comes with their own unique quirks that one must put up with. And the best way to deal with those quirks right now, is to ignore them and carry on like nothing is happening. "So, what are your plans for this weekend?" Darwin asked his ghost girlfriend.

"Funny you should mention that. I will be performing dark arts on Grakath." Carrie replied to Darwin. Finally, a weekend, perfect time to indulge her hobbies.

"The medallion?" Carrie's pet trinket with a loud, unwashed mouth that she found. He should've guessed. Carrie even got into the habit of bringing him to school. "Why are you so interested in that thing so much?"

"I don't always find talking cursed objects on the outskirts of Doom forest. Hence the experiments. I'm trying to figure out just what he is and where he came from."

Strangely enough, Carrie told him that the medallion appeared in her backyard. "I thought you said you found him behind your house."

"Sort of. I'm just putting together pieces of stuff he told me on day one. So far, I got nothing concrete." Carrie explained and huffed in disappointment.

Darwin rubbed his chin in thought. Curses, artifacts and magic didn't really interest him that much, or at all actually. That stuff is way too creepy and dangerous. But since Carrie seemed to be really into this 'mysterious' trinket, he might as well join in on the whole mystery deal. After all, he, as her boyfriend, is supposed to take at least a minor interest in her hobbies. If not fully indulge them, then at least to show that he cares. "So, can't you just ask Grakath to tell you?"

The goth ghost rolled her eyes. The most obvious, nicest strategy ever. Of course Darwin would suggest that. "He won't talk about that no matter how many times I ask. That's why I'm using some very painful magic to make him squeal." And she recently remembered a really good spell that just might make him talk, for real this time. Tomorrow couldn't come sooner.

"...I think you're approaching this from the wrong angle." Darwin spoke up after a lengthy pause. Even his girl had some very unique, and often worrying quirks. Maybe he should address them in the future.

"Oh! About that small creature that attacked us on that day. I-" Carrie was cut off by loud music blaring out from the stadium. The game was starting.

Players begun entering the field. First team to enter the field were Elmore Ducks. All of them were fully dressed in the classical American football gear, bearing the color of blue. There were minute exceptions amongst some of the players as not all of them were humanoid. But they weren't that extreme. Holes in the back for wings, holes in the helmets for horns, differently sized gear for those who were a bit bigger, or had sharp corners in their body structure.

Fans in the bleachers, mostly those who had the same color of clothing, went wild. Opposite of the Duck fans, beings dressed in red or sporting some kind of merchandise of Franklin school, booed the gathering team. With all the Ducks gathered in the field, next were the Franklin's team.

* * *

Alan was concerned that Neal might have gotten lost. Maybe all of them should've held strings when they were coming to the stadium. "Mom, can you see him?!" The green balloon asked his parent over the loud music.

Jessica floated from her seat, rising in the air and after a few moments, floating back down. "No." She answered with a sad sigh.

Now it was time to worry. There were a lot of people in the stadium, so chances of them finding him were tiny. Maybe they should get the police involved, even if…

"Alan!" A very familiar suddenly made the young balloon jump in surprise. "Finally found you. Geez." Neal was walking down the iron steps of the bleachers with somebody's disembodied hand in his grip. Some of the Duck fans thought it would be funny to get pushy. He thought otherwise.

"I thought you got lost! We were about to go looking for you!" Alan flew up to him to examine him from up close. His roommate was unhurt, thankfully.

"Or call the police." Added Dexter with a frown, "Don't scare us like that."

"Yeah, but see, spotting a couple balloons, amongst all of this-" Neal gestured to the bleachers full of weirdest fantastical creatures. Most of them were of couple bright colors and it all blended into a sea of rainbows. "It ain't easy." Neal plopped on the chair that Alan was hovering on. "Sorry, but I don't think you're using this."

Alan floated over to his left shoulder and settled down. "Ah, the dude I met two days ago." Neal gestured with his chin towards the field. He recognized one of the Duck players. Jeremy, he clearly remembered him from the party in the gym. He was blown off by the 'star' of the Ducks team when he tried to get to Teri. He was irritated by what he did, but as long as Neal stays away from him, and he stays away from Neal, everything will be fine.

"You came back just in time to see Franklin's team." Alan mentioned to his roommate.

Just as Alan said it, the music cut out. Everyone went silent and sole player entered the field.

"That's their team leader. They always have entrances like that." Alan explained to Neal, who couldn't care less. "His name is Benjamin."

Full football gear, standing a few feet shorter than any of the Duck's player's, two arms, two legs, one head, four fingers on each hand too. From the thin hands, it was pretty easy to tell that he wasn't physically built like the other players. Due to his gear, it was hard to tell his race at first. But, a brown and fluffy fox tail swishing around gave it away.

And then, the rest of the team rolled in.

First one to come out and by far the least freakish of the bunch behind him. Standing thirteen feet tall, slim, clad in pitch black armor of glinting steel from head to toe, with dark gray chainmail underneath the plates of steel. Bright blue flames were burning out of the eye holes in his helmet. On top of his helmet, red strips of cloth flew in the wind like hair. He even wore a cape of black color, with red team numbers on it. A demonic knight.

Then another monstrosity followed. A mixture between a mountain troll and a bull. Sixteen feet tall. He barely fit through the entrance. A hulking mass of pure muscle. Dark brown fur covered his entire body except his chest and abs. Two sharp and curved horns on his head, a long tail of a bull dragged on the ground as he walked. Beady eyes of silver color spoke of crazed mind. His ugly face had a nasty scowl, complemented by two sharp fangs growing out of his mouth. A brown bush of hair reached his rear and a red cloth sheet wrapped around his waist like a towel with a leather belt securing it.

Unlike the previous three, the fourth player walked on all fours. Simply because he was a nightmare to behold. A horse, while on its back, fused into the body itself, was a top half of a humanesque creature. The being was absolutely skinless. His muscles, ligaments, bones, they were fully exposed and visible. The human half had two, extremely long arms that looked very stretchy and dragged on the ground. Both palms were also bigger than normal human palms. The knuckles on those hands were jagged and sharp, like rocky bone growths. Two red dots blazed in the empty eye sockets of both the human head and the horse head. He wore no team colors or gear. Mainly because there was no need. Without a skin, his entire body was red enough as it.

Next one was kind of a mystery at first as he strode into the field to join his team. The player worse a black cloak with a hood on, on its back there were red team numbers, just like the knights. However, a yellow, curved beak poking from the hood gave it away. Legs that could only belong to a bird were also visible from underneath the cloak while the player was walking. Those talons were not only big, but also very pointy. He was most likely a hawk, the size of a tall human. Although normal at first, one could spot a swarm of flies surrounding the player for some odd reason.

And the monstrosities just kept pouring in. Slimy and lanky bipeds, bug creatures, beings with seven limbs. They had it all. Even by Elmore's standards, Franklin's football team was strange. But not in the charming kind of way like the rest of the townsfolk. More like 'make little kids cry' kind of way.

"Those are supposed to be school football players?" Neal asked out of sheer bewilderment. "They look like an army of monsters and demons." Franklin's own street goons were nothing compared to these guys. "Especially that horse, centaur thing." Neal pointed at the fleshy horse demon. The ears of the horse head flicked and the tiny red dots in the eye sockets zeroed in specifically on him. Neal's expression didn't change as to not give himself away, but from the inside, he was highly surprised. Clearly the monster had heard him, somehow.

"Huh. Those guys are new." Carrie said to Darwin as she observed the Franklin team filling up the field. "I wonder why they switched out the old players."

"Maybe because it's the big finale?" Darwin suggested, "They must be their best of the best."

From how the game was progressing, it appeared that they weren't allowed to use their body advantages. It was just a simple football game, with strange looking players.

The ball kept getting thrown and passed, and kicked. Neal, tried his best to care for the game, but in all actuality, other things piqued his interest. Mainly the Shark's leader, Benjamin. He was acting more monstrous than his own team of hell spawns. The leader, had used his own teammates as meat shields. Quite literally pushing them into harm's way. To make matters even more sketchy, the way he tackled other players seemed way too hard. Not once, but twice did Neal pick up on how Benjamin charged a player, and used both his shoulder and knee for tackling. He raised his knee well above his waist too and rammed it into the side of whoever was unfortunate enough to get in his way.

"I'm no sports expert, but isn't kneeling people forbidden in football?" Neal asked his roommate who resided on his shoulder.

"What are you talking about? I didn't see him do anything of that sort." Alan replied with his eyes glued to the stadium.

Neal knew a headbutt when he saw one. That shouldn't be allowed. It is a legitimate attack that is banned even in the most brutal of martial arts like Muay Thai. And Benjamin just smashed his head into one of the players heads as he charged for the goal. "Right there! Did you see that?" Neal asked again, keenly following Benjamin's path of pain.

"Yeah. He's very good at this game." The green balloon marveled, admiration clear on his drawn on face.

The human boy sighed and gave up on questioning the rules. Which begged the question, what were the judges doing? It was blatantly obvious that they were turning a blind eye on Benjamin's questionable behavior in the field.

Minutes passed, the game continued and it seemed that the cheerleaders were late to the game. Neal twirled his thumbs impatiently. Where were they? Nearly full ten minutes later, the girl squad has appeared. To the humans surprise, all of them were his classmates. Seriously? No upperclassmen? Although, he only had eyes for one.

There she was, second to last in her group. Teri. And she was holding two, blue pom-poms. Outright adorable. Heck, maybe after the game, he could ask Teri to pose for a few pictures? He shook his head of that thought. No, that would be too soon.

First half of the game had ended. The score was tied point to point. And it was time for the cheerleaders to put up a show for their respective teams. Only difference was, only Elmore Ducks had a cheerleader team. Franklin Sharks didn't have one, they didn't even start out with one.

Neal leaned on his arms and keenly observed the upcoming show. And he wasn't the only one. One row of seats above him, a certain blue cat had concentrated all of his attention to the field too. The performance was spectacular. Such skill, catchy movements, they even had involved some acrobatic tricks. Elmore's cheerleaders had closed off their show with a grand finale of building a pyramid, with their leader, Penny, practically sailing to land at the top with precise movement that could rival any wild monkey.

Neal was genuinely impressed and clapped as loud as he could. Yet not as loud as the person behind him, who even yelled 'I love you!' at the cheerleaders.

When the players were called to return to the field and the girls were going back to the locker rooms, one particular surprise happened. The star player, Jeremy had winked at the two girls as he passed them by. Teri and Penny giggled in response and shouted good luck in return.

"What in the world…" Neal grumbled with his expression growing sour and irritated.

"What the what...!" Gumball shouted in alarm. Now this was an outrage. "That dude is making weird looks towards Penny!" Gumball pointed squarely at the tall and handsome ogre player so that Darwin and Carrie could spot him. "And I can't believe that-

Neal blew a strand of hair from underneath his glasses with an irritated huff. Teri, attracted to a mountain of muscles? His mouth was moving before he even noticed it, "-she would even look at that guy. Look at him, a total show off! Not to mention-"

"-his haircut. Looks so dumb-"

"-and have you seen him eat his food? A pig-"

"-with no regards to table manners-"

Gumball suddenly stopped talking and looked around. Neal suddenly stopped talking and sat up straight.

"Is there an echo in here?"

"Is there an echo in here?"

Gumball looked down at the row beneath his feet. Neal looked up at the row above him.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me."

"Oh you gotta be kidding me."

Two classmates were sitting practically in the same spot, expect different rows. Gumballs face turned into a deep scowl. He really didn't like his human classmate. Always smiling, always super polite, sticking his nose in everyone's business, dressed like a lawyer and has the most bland personality ever.

Neal wasn't too happy either. He was still quite sore that Gumball had left him to get assaulted by the Franklin goons few days back. Plus, the time off school was the only time he could get away from this hyperactive cats shenanigans.

"I see the sin of sloth and gluttony runs in the family." Neal gestured with his head towards Richard, sitting next to Gumball. The rabbit was so into his food that drops of mustard found themselves on Gumballs sweater.

Gumballs frown deepened as he retorted, "Oh wow. How original. So it is true, your personality does match your clothes. Both are ugly."

Darwin decided to get in between the two before the situation escalates further, way before Alan could. While Carrie, was betting on them to start a fight. "Hey! Guys, c'mon! It's a Friday evening! Can't we get along?"

"Yeah, I don't really like him because he's an extra addition to make Alan look even better in comparison." Gumball crossed his arms and looked away from the row of his most disliked people.

"Believe me, the feeling is mutual." Neal re-directed his attention back on the field. Now this was excruciating. With the girls gone from the field, the game turned into a bore fest to him. And even worse, he had a splinter in his back in a form of Gumball.

It seemed that the second half of the game got the audience riled up even more. A lot of cheering and yelling happened. So much that Neal felt like a headache was coming on.

"I'm going to get some water!" He yelled over the cheers to his roommate. Alan nodded and floated off his shoulder. Truth be told, Neal didn't go to get water, he just wanted to get away from the insane noise of the stadium.

* * *

High fives were shared all around. The crowd loved them! All the girls were in high spirits after their performance. They operated as a well built machine and pulled off a spectacular show. And if their football teams manages to come out victorious, then they will be praised along with them. All in all, their training more than paid off and it was well worth it.

"Maybe we should celebrate, what do you say, team?" Sarah asked with a broad smile as she shut the locker and grabbed her backpack.

"A girl's night out does sound nice." Masami agreed.

"I can't." Penny replied with a shake of her head. All of them hanging out did sound like a lot of fun, unfortunately she had reasons not to. "My dad will soon come to pick me up. It's already pretty late after all." She explained and shrugged. There will be another time for them to get together.

"Yeah, same here." Carmen added. Teri nodded too. They still weren't at the age where they could go out into the town during nighttime.

On the other side of the wall, in the corridor that lead out into the field, four beings stood around, idly chatting. "You sure you saw them go this way?" Asked the tallest one of the bunch by the name Winston. He wore a red tank top and blue jeans. He wasn't just well built, he was lean and physically ripped like a sculpted statue. Although, with his round head, no eyes and a massive, toothy mouth, he looked like a doll that had a head attached to a different body.

"Yeah bro, I did. I definitely heard them come in here." Responded the other creature with a name Craig, smallest of their group. The taller teens lips spread in a huge, saliva drooping grin.

The two shared the same skin color, purple. They looked like they were from the same family, expect the small one was petite and short, with his defining feature being massive, pointy ears at the sides of his head and a more flattened, egg shaped head. Both had massive mouths and no eyes.

"So why we even hangin' around dis place, Bill?" Craig asked as he looked at the other two of his friends standing closest to the door.

One of them, anthropomorphic elephant with tattoos on his biceps shook his head and leaned against the wall. "Hot cheerleaders. Here's your answer. Christ sakes you virgin." Bill blew hot air out of his trunk on multiple golden rings that were on his fingers and polished them against his red shirt.

His other buddy nodded in understanding, thin as a stick humanoid creature of green color and shaggy brown hair. He had extraordinarily long and sharp nails. "But aren't we feuding with those guys?"

"Their girls be hot tho." Said Winston with a dopey grin and his little brother nodded energetically. Elmore had real hotties when compared to Franklin, he was sure of that one.

"And that's why we're here." Bill replied with a smile. Any time now the girls should be done changing, and that's where they will make their move.

As they were waiting for cheerleaders to come out, the thin green humanoid by the name Carsten used his nails to fish out a tiny bottle from the pocket of his red hoodie. The liquid was of sparkling crimson color. He carefully removed the cork with his pinky nail and was about to take a drink when Bill stopped him by blowing air at Carstens face from his trunk. "What are you doing?" He asked with a hiss while looking around if anyone else besides them is here.

"I gotta get pumped to put up my best game, yo!" Replied his buddy like it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Son, you never had any game." Bill shot back, making the purple brother's giggle in response. "And put that thing back in, you want someone to see it?"

Carsten, although reluctantly, did as told and put the vial back in his pocket. Just in time, because the door to the changing room opened.

The collective team of girls came into the hallway, only to be greeted by a group of older teens. Sarah and Masami already knew where this was going to go. Hopefully they'll manage to clear this up before their parents come to get them.

* * *

In the corridors of the massive stadium, Neal slowly trekked downstairs. He found himself in the lower corridors of the staff and participants, where locker rooms and staff headquarters were located. He could still hear the buzz of the crowd, even through multiple layers of concrete. That, and the few of the corridors led out into the field itself.

Walking the dimly lit corridors of the stadium made him feel a little anxious. Considering the current reputation of Franklin, who knew what was hiding behind the corner, or lurking in the darkness. But all he wanted to do is waste some time until the game ends.

Lucky for Neal, just as he thought he was lost, he heard the noise of the crowd. So he was close to one of the entrances into the stadium. And to his surprise, he came across a curious scene.

His classmates, surrounded by four teenagers, way older than Neal himself. Probably sixteen or seventeen. "All red…" He murmured to himself as he took note of how all of them had matching color clothing. Franklin. This situation interested him more, so he decided to stick around the corner and observe.

Those guys looked like they're attempting to flirt with them, inviting them for some snacks and to hang out. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Yes, he felt insanely jealous. Yes, he felt irritated to the point of shaking in his shoes. Yes, he wanted to say something to dispel this situation. Why? Because Teri was there. Yet he held himself back, he didn't want to look like a fool if he decides to step in to ruin this normal interaction.

"Because my dad sponsors Franklin's team. So you guys better back off." He heard the cloud girl say, followed by a bunch of 'boos' from her friends.

Okay, maybe it wasn't a normal interaction. In fact, it looked like the situation was heating up, and not in a good way. Still, no reason for him to get in there.

What followed afterwards was a string of attempted invites to an after-game party with the Franklin football team. Yet all the girls refused due to their scheduled time to get picked up by their parents. And that's when the situation took a turn. The guys got clearly irritated because of rejection. Even though the rejection was due to lack of time. It followed all sense and logic.

Usually doing nothing and leaving it how it is, works out. And it's not like he and Teri are dating. Unfortunately, the four teens were getting rough and touchy and usually that's where the line is drawn.

Neal looked around. Did the world seriously

wanted him of all people to play a hero? Wasn't there some adults around here? Surely someone is waiting around the corner to jump in at the last moment and help the girls. If memory serves him right, that glowing girl with wings and horns is Gumballs girlfriend. And from what Sarah had described of him in an overly exaggerated detail, Gumball should be appearing any moment now, wearing a cape, a sword and a shield.

Scoffing at the ridiculous thought, he decided to leave the scene. Playing a white knight and starting an altercation with those meat heads wasn't worth it. They'll be fine.

"Don't touch me with your unwashed hands!"

"God…damn it…" Neal grumbled and reluctantly turned around. Of course, it had to be the one girl who he liked a lot. Yes, the big mean elephant was uncomfortably close to the paper bear. And he was getting handsy with her.

No. Neal was still not going out there. Even if their knight in shining armor doesn't appear, all of them had abilities last he heard. Gumball boasted that his girlfriend can turn into a dragon. And Masami once got so irritated in class that she started generating a typhoon. Those girls can fend for themselves.

Then a prickle of doubt came in regards to Teri. The girl was all paper. She wasn't physically resilient at all, in fact, quite the opposite actually. Top it all off, Teri had bandaged his painfully bruised knuckles. No one had called him to the principal's office, meaning that Teri didn't rat him out either. She showed him more kindness and understanding than he expected. In the end, his heart didn't lie to him. He really does like her.

The only question remained now, what to do? The longer he waits, the more the situation will escalate. Four teens, older, taller and most likely, physically stronger than him. Surprise strike from the back could work. Worst case scenario, if this turns into a brawl, Neal could tell the girls to book it and he himself could lose his pursuers in the corridors. Either pick them off one by one, or perhaps hide in the parking lot, or mix into the crowd of the stadium.

Stretching his neck and back, Neal moved forth. He set his sights on the tall, violet one with a red tank top. He stood furthest from the group, there for, the most obvious target. It was time to make an entrance.

* * *

"Oh come, cutie. I don't bite." Bill said with a sly grin and wrapped his trunk around Teri's waist and pulled her closer. She said not to touch her with his hands, so he improvised.

The paper girl couldn't stand to be in a close proximity of someone she barely knew. And who knows if this guy even showers, or brushes his teeth. "Didn't you hear what I said, Mister Peanut breath?" She asked with her eyebrow raised. While the big elephant was formulating a response in his brain, Teri looked at her friends for help.

They were also quite busy with fending off the fun seeking students of Franklin. At such close distance between the two, Teri began to smell the odor of the bigger teen. It's like he put deodorant on to mask his scent. And it mixed into a truly foul smell. She couldn't stand to be close to him anymore, now that her speculation was confirmed.

"Ugh! Let go of me!" The paper girl tried to push him away with both hands. But, Bill was much bigger and heavier than the pale white bear.

Bill grabbed her by the arm, and in his strong grip, she couldn't pry herself loose. "Don't be so hasty. I'm actually a lot of fun once you get to know me." He said in a more serious tone. How could he let her get away? He liked them weak but spunky. It made it all the more fun.

Teri's eyes widened dramatically out sheer disgust. She began to try and get herself loose out of his grasp. Not to mention, her hand began to hurt with the way he was holding her. And his trunk, wrapped around her waist, tightened more. Now she was panicking, truly panicking.

Teri was about to call out for help from her friends, who were also dealing with the same situation. A loud smack, as if a body hit the ground made everyone turn around at the same time.

Neal stood with his foot on top of the tall, violet student while adjusting his black winter gloves. He had dropped the guy faster than anyone could notice. More so than that, Neal had changed. His jacket was unzipped, his hair slightly dishevelled. His entire frame, it looked like he was more defined, like he stood out. Maybe it was his aggressive body language, or maybe it was the piercing sapphire gaze from underneath the golden bangs. Either way, he was different. Bad or good, no one knew yet.

Neal took his leg off the downed student and proceeded to approach the rest of the group with a confident gait, "I was just passing by and decided to 'drop' into the conversation. I hope you won't mind."

While everyone was slowly drinking in what was said and done practically right before their very eyes, Neal stopped himself from coming any closer. He definitely didn't want to get surrounded.

The elephant with tattoos, the head of their caveman pack, released Teri -to her great relief- and came towards the human boy.

Neal recoiled from the big elephant as he came closer. That body odor was not something one would like to smell in a humid temperature, enclosed in a tight space. "Uuugh... Ever heard of Axe? It's a good body spray. Go buy a box of it."

Letting the insult fall on deaf ears, Bill loomed over the much shorter teen with a threatening glare, "If you can't see, we're kinda in the middle of something here. So get the hell out of here, kid."

"Oh, I want you to make me." Neal growled with pure aggression in his quiet voice and held the elephants gaze with his own. Both teens fell silent as they entered into a staring contest. Neal already set his leg in a position to throw a roundhouse kick in case there was any sign of attack.

The girls, watched their exchange silently and didn't even dare to let out a peep. While the friends of Bill, abandoned their attempts at getting together with the cheerleaders and began sauntering towards the two.

Neal didn't move, but he was ready. In the end, it came down to this. Just when he was about to strike first, the moment his heel rose off the ground a voice at the back of the corridor stopped all of them in their tracks.

"Hey! What is going on here? Outsiders aren't allowed here!" Yelled some old person. Neal glanced over his shoulder, a janitor had spotted them. Thank God for that. He definitely didn't want to throw down and cause harm to his classmates. "If you're not participating in the game, leave! Or I'm calling the security!"

With their pride wounded, the three guys picked up their pal and dragged themselves and their unconscious friend away. "This ain't over, Elmore loser." Bill said on his way past the human teen.

"You kiss your trash can with that mouth!?" Neal shouted on their way out, just before they rounded the corner.

He turned his attention back to the girls. All of them were staring at him eyes wide and mouths agape. Shock, surprise, bewilderment was clear as day on their faces. And was that admiration he saw in Masami's dumbfounded look? "What are you gawking at? What? Do you like what you see?" He gestured at himself as a whole with a frown. All of them were still staring, unable to respond. "Yeah, that's right. Admire the merchandise, but don't try to purchase. All of me is reserved for someone special."

"Speaking of special-" He wanted to check on Teri. The paper girl was being treated quite roughly. He walked up to the stunned group of his classmates, "-outta the way, side characters." They all automatically parted to allow him passage.

Now that he was face to face with Teri, he didn't even know what to say. But you can never go wrong with a simple start. "Hi."

"Hi.." Teri repeated, still just as stunned and thrown out of the loop like the rest of her friends.

"You okay? I saw that animal grab you. He didn't…ahem...tear anything?" Neal asked carefully in fear of upsetting her.

"No..not really." The paper girl said while still looking at him up and down and taking in his change in attitude. This was, quite unexpected and outright strange.

Neal saw something else as he took it upon himself to check up on his crush. The lower part of her forearm was crumbled slightly. Of course, paper was brittle, it doesn't take a lot to damage it. Neal didn't know if it hurt or not, but even if he isn't a doctor, he the human boy knew to fix crumbled paper. "Hey, that..here let me.."

He placed both his palms over the crinkle in her hand, and before Teri could say anything, he gently ran them down, smoothing her hand out.

To his surprise, she didn't push him away. Even though their hands came in contact. Neal only then took notice that what he just did, was way too intimate, even for him. Their eyes met for a moment and he was locked in place, not being able to direct his gaze anywhere else. But the blonde teen wasn't the only one with his mind grinded to a halt. Teri as well, tried to piece together what was happening while a rose red blush crept on her cheeks.

As if being shocked with electricity, Neal jerked away from the adorable girl and quickly threw his hands into his jeans pockets while whirling around to hide his blazing face. "Right, well, you're all good. That's nice, very nice. Anyways, I'm off." On his way to clear out from the scene as fast as he could, Neal shouted over his shoulder, "By the way, I was watching your performance. You shone brighter than your glowing fairy captain. Good job!"

And he was gone just as fast as he appeared. Sarah blinked once, as if waking up from a dream. "What was that?" She asked Carmen.

The cacti glanced at her paper friend, who was still staring off into the distance after Neal's departure with sparkly eyes full of amazement and a burning red blush. "Something magical."

* * *

Did he just seriously do that? Did he actually shied away? So much for infinite confidence that he believed he had. It crumbled faster than a badly cooked ginger house. Cursing at his own lack of tact, Neal jogged up the stairs of the stadium to reach the bleachers. Hopefully the stupid football will be coming to a close so that he could get to his bed and sleep till Monday. Of course, he didn't get far. He stopped in his step and took off his glasses.

He could tell what was waiting for him in the wide corridor he entered. It was only a logical conclusion to come to. He exhaled shakingly and forced himself to breathe evenly. Three pairs of eyes surrounded him. Of course they weren't going to let this go. Not after the way he dealt with their friend and insulted them. Neal pulled his hands from his pockets and held them loosely at his sides.

"Shall we begin?"

* * *

Allan cheered and hollered in support to his team. Despite getting the back of his seat kicked repeatedly by Gumball, this was by far the best football game he attended. The second half especially. The intense action, the teamwork, the evenly matched scores and the unknown end result that has yet to come. Just perfect. It was made all the more better by the fact that his parents were also engrossed into the game.

Unfortunately, not everyone loved sports. Like his roommate Neal, who just returned from getting water. Gumball had thankfully stopped kicking the seat after Neal's return. Strangely enough, the bottom parts of his jeans and shoes were stained with sprinkles of red. "Someone had left their cranberry soda on the ground. Accidentally stepped on it." Neal explained to him with an unreadable look.

The game had reached yet another break. Which meant, the game was coming to a close. Since the scores were tied, Sharks called out their main weapon to secure their victory. Their star, their best of the best.

The player that entered the field was by far the most vicious looking. Seemingly a normal humanoid at first. Or so he looked from afar. His entire head had only bone spikes growing out of his skull in color of bright red. They were pointing in all different directions. The amount of said spikes decreased going down his back, the dominant amount being the upper back, shoulders and head. His head had only one, yellow eye in the form of a star that shone like a lamp. The rest of the players body was covered in different shades of red scales and miniature thorns.

Neal didn't even know that there could be so many shades of that particular color. The big red bastard looked more like a menace to society than a football player. "So, I assume that's Virus?"

"Yes. If you get so much as scratched by those bones, you turn weak and get a fever." Alan responded. The two friends could hear the ghost goth on the row above them cheer like crazy when Virus entered the field. It was obvious that despite the red menace being on the opposite team, Carrie only wanted to witness absolute carnage.

Even when the game intensified, and both teams were tied point to point, Benjamin was terrifying. No amount of 'main weapons' and star players changed that fact. The leader of the Franklin team even trampled his own fallen teammate in an attempt to score a touchdown. To a keen eye, it was clear that the team leader was thirsting for victory even more so than an average player. The more the game dragged on, the more aggressive he got.

A deciding point was scored by Elmore Ducks, right before the game's end. And the Sharks fought even harder to claim victory. The fans were going crazy in their seats. The entire stadium turned into one huge zoo with the volume of a rock concert.

And yet, despite their best efforts, when the Sharks most offensive player, Virus, was close to scoring a touchdown, a tragedy happened. The star of their team, tripped over. It felt like time had frozen on that moment. The game came to close. Elmore Junior high, the Ducks had won.

The fans dressed in blue all stood up, clapped and cheered for their favorite team, the fans dressed in red yelled and cursed at the team that they thought was invincible. The football field was even more crazy. Elmore Ducks celebrated with happy laughter and victorious howling while gathering for a group hug and receival of the golden cup trophy, a sign that they won the finale of this year.

And the Sharks team devolved into an inside brawl. They yelled, pushed and even hit each other. It got so bad that the security had to get involved. It was an utter pandemonium on their side of the field the likes of which event forty security officers had trouble clearing out.

But amongst the raging players who blamed and fought each other, one stood out particularly. Benjamin. He didn't move and outright ignored what was happening around him. Jealousy, anger and shattered pride. His animalistic stare conveyed all the emotions. But the most apparent one was greed. He was lusting for that trophy. He was thirsting for glory and fame that he was denied off because of the simplest mistake from his team. And he was so close to achieving absolute control. The fame and recognition, it should be his. This entire stinking town should be his.

Like a phantom in a foggy forest, the leader of the Franklin team retreated into the chaos, vanishing from the eyes of the crowd.

"Well, that was haunting." Neal grumbled under his breath. Was he the only one who saw how unsettling the Shark's captain was? Most likely. "Can we leave now?" He asked Dexter who nodded in answer.

Getting into the stadium was hard. Getting out of the stadium was even harder. The traffic in the hallways was tremendous. Not to mention the road traffic as well. The Kenae family had returned home way past midnight. All the members of their family immediately retreated to bed. Expect for the temporary addition to their family who couldn't find a piece of mind.

"Yeah Neal. Have fun sleeping with the thought of hellspawns living in the same city as you. Surely they just look weird." He thought sarcastically. The teen didn't fall asleep easily. It was surprisingly hard for him to rest with the knowledge of how many dangerous beings there are in Elmore.

Although, Elmore Junior high had managed to pull out a win against a monstrous team. Maybe with this loss, the Franklin students will finally calm themselves and stop causing so much trouble for the townspeople and the kids attending the school. Perhaps the bullying and vandalism will cease and everything will return to normal.

-End of chapter 12, part 3-


	13. Chapter 13

The second consciousness returned to Neal, he was aware of two things. One, he was in a bed. Two, he felt sore and could barely move. Everything felt sore after Friday. After yesterday. The darned fight with Julius really was more pain than gain. Neal could only hope that by Monday, he will be healed enough to move properly. For now, it hurt to even get out of bed. Another thought occurred to him. He played a hero during the football game. Saved bunch of damsels in distress and rescued a princess from a big bad elephant and his lackeys.

Neal laughed at himself. The amount of cringe that he generated was so astronomical that it put all of the basement dwelling anime fans to shame. It's true what people say, you come to regret the things you did in the morning. And he regretted everything, except for the part where he and Teri…

What could one even call the interaction that happened between them? Getting closer? Establishing a bond? Earning a future restraining order? Anyways, something happened that wasn't absolutely cringy. Although the events leading up to that were. Neal groaned and turned on their side of the bed to face the wall. The world can go bang itself. He's not getting out of the bed. Too many regrets, too much cringe and his back is killing him.

Unfortunately, the universe yet again, had other plans for this tired, barely functioning teen with weird romantic interests.

Dexter barged into the room, waking up Alan in the process. Neal closed his eyes shut and cursed mentally. "_God damn it. What is it this time?" _He made sure to cover up his banged hands too.

"Boys, come down quick!" There was a sense of urgency in his voice. Alan darted for the door without questions. On the other side, Neal rose like a mummy and moved like a turtle.

* * *

The weekend was here! And with it came a problem for Alan and his entire family, plus Neal. Their house was egged.

All of them stood on the front yard, staring at their home with mouths agape. "God damn." Neal uttered upon inspecting the damage. There was even bread thrown at the house. It has gathered in piles on the floor of the porch.

"Mind your apple sauce, Neal." Chastised him Alan's dad upon coming out of his shocked trance.

"Oh come on, it's appropriate to be said in this situation. Look at your house! It looks like breakfast."

"...yeah. Unfortunately. Well, it happens!" Dexter piped up with a cheery smile. His cloudy mood didn't last that long at all.

"And we're not the only ones with this problem." Neal looked around the street. Their neighboring houses had also food thrown at them. The luckier ones only got graffiti sprayed on them. And those involved quite a few curse words and vulgar, violent imagery. Usually, in a form of red clad monstrous beings tearing into normal Elmore citizens. "I don't get it. What's the point of all this nonsense?"

"C'mon, let's go get some wet rags and clean this messy mishap!" Dexter said with his spirit renewed.

"Family teamwork!" They all high fived each other with their strings.

Neal couldn't believe what he was hearing. Their house was trashed and they were treating it like a fun activity. He bit the inside of his cheek out of anger and scratched his knuckles through the gloves. Who the hell would dare to vandalize such nice people? It really pissed him off. Keane's didn't deserve this. God won't be able to help those who did this, if he finds out who did it.

"It was those kids from Franklin." Alan's mother, Jessica, mentioned in a conversation after they went into the kitchen for cleaning supplies.

had seen them. It was obvious with the way she stated it. Neal paid extra attention to their family talk. "Mom, you saw them do it?" Alan asked curiously.

"When I was going for a glass of water during the night. Yes."

"They're out for revenge." Neal thought. It was logical, Franklin did lose by one point and by accident. With so many crazed fans, it was obvious that they would go ballistic after such a loss. That would explain all the ruckus in the middle of the night.

"You wouldn't happen to remember how they looked like? Height, size, extra limbs, color, body shape?" The human asked evenly while getting cleaning chemicals. If Neal gets the descriptions he asked for, he planned on finding those who vandalized their house. Just for the purpose of having a '**friendly**' conversation by reminding them that it's not nice to damage someone's property.

told him everything. She described all of the vandals without so much as even inquiring why Neal asked in the first place.

The human boy immediately went to put on his shoes and walked out the door. "Where are you going?" Alan asked after catching up to him in the doorway.

"...for a walk. Be back in a few." Neal responded calmly and closed the door. Those bastards couldn't have gone too far. Even though he felt like a train wreck, going on a hunt still seemed like a good idea. He will not let them get away with this.

* * *

"Dude, I'm so booored!" Gumball groaned. The two kids were walking down the street and looking for something to do.

"I know right?" Darwin agreed. However, the fish had a few ideas. "Maybe we should go and rent out a game?"

"Darwin, I dunno how to tell you this, but we're not exactly the richest kids around."

"We could paint pictures and sell them to people on the street!"

"Dude, our second grade drawings looked better than our current ones."

"We could start a band!"

"Leave that for when we become awkward teens striving for attention of random people."

Darwin pouted after having his ideas shot down, "Well then why don't you suggest something?"

Before Gumball could shoot another smart reply, something caught his eye. "Speaking of art. Check it out." The blue cat pointed at a house they were walking past. It had graffiti sprayed all over it. "Looks like it belongs in an art museum."

"Yeah, people have the weirdest taste for art these days." Darwin agreed.

Only when they looked around, they saw that all the neighboring houses were spray painted. "Okay. Is this a new home decoration trend?" Gumball asked his brother, who shrugged in response.

Further down the neighborhood, they saw one person run across the street, into another yard. He looked quite suspicious with the way he ran, like he didn't want to be spotted. He stopped by the front of the house, and the two kids noticed how he held a spray can.

"I think we found our artist, detective Gumball."

"Indeed we did. We must put a stop to his terrible artistic deeds!"

"I dunno. They're not that terrible."

"Dude, you know what I meant."

The brothers went after the person in question. Gumball and Darwin peeked over the fence and found their perpetrator. He was spray painting a wall of a house, drawing an image of a shark devouring a duck.

"Stop right there!" Gumball shouted while jumping over the fence like he saw in a reality show about cops. His leg caught on it mid jump and the cat face planted into the lawn. While his little brother simply walked around it.

The spray wielding perp let out a high pitched shriek of surprise at the unexpected arrivals. The mystery artist ran from them, thinking it was the police, fully overlooking the fact that no police officer sounds twelve.

"H-hey! Wait!" Of course. What kind of cop scenario would be complete without a chase? Gumball rubbed his sore nose, which made him sound nasally, "After him!"

The chase was on. Past the house into the backyard the kids ran after the escaping person. However, it didn't last long. Gumball had a sudden idea. He grabbed a garden hose and threw it like a lasso like in one of those cowboy movies. It of course missed its intended target by a large margin. "Eh, was worth a shot."

Their escapist flipped over the fence like it was nothing. Not discouraged and slightly amazed by such a display of agility, the boys worked as a team get over the fence. By the time they touched down on the ground, the assailant had just rounded a corner.

The wind itself seemed to carry her further away from the pursuing kids. However, the vandal knew of her limits, she couldn't run for long. She ran into one of the houses. The door wasn't locked, so she slammed it shut and locked it from the inside.

However, the lock clicked a moment later and the door slowly opened. She was prepared to fight her way out, when two children walked in.

Gumball and Darwin were out of breath after chasing their suspect. Even if the chase lasted for only two blocks. Their criminal in question turned out to be a pure white ragdoll with straight blonde hair and emerald eyes. She dressed in all black clothing, hoodie, loose pants, shoes and gloves to mask fingerprints. Even had a black scarf wrapped around her half her face to better conceal herself. The upset and jumpy puppet girls name is Vivian, a student from Franklin high.

"Wait. You're not the cops." The ragdoll pointed at them in disbelief.

"No. But you ran from us like we were. Which means you really are doing something illegal!" Gumball pointed at her accusingly.

Darwin immediately went into the peacemaker mode, "Whoa! Gumball, relax. We don't know that yet."

"Why else was she running then?"

"We scared her?"

"We couldn't scare off birds, much less another person."

The back and forth between the kids got interrupted by the third person present. "How did you get in here? Where did you get the key?"

"This is our home." Gumbal replied. "Hey, dad." He greeted his father who was watching TV in his usual spot.

"Hi." Richard waved absent-mindedly.

Gumball turned his attention back to the girl in black. "So, why are you using other people's property as a coloring book?"

"And why do you want to know? Ain't none of your business." She replied aggressively and pushed past the two kids. Like she would explain her whole life story and why she's being made to do this.

Not being the ones to give up so easily or get discouraged when people get angry, Gumball and Darwin followed after the ragdoll. "Oh come on! You're basically asking for trouble with the things you're doing! Why not direct your creative power towards something less illegal?"

"I already told you, that's none of your business. Go back to playing games and doing kids stuff." She responded while checking her pockets. No spray cans. Must've dropped them while running.

Gumball scoffed. None of their business? This will eventually affect them, and then they will have to clean the graffiti on their house. And what if gets his house repainted too? "It is our business alright! We don't want our home turned into a show for people who think they know how to draw."

"Well that's too bad then." The black clad girl remarked. Where could she have dropped her paint? She didn't want to return to Franklin for more without completing what she was told to do. Bravery was not something she had to offer in large quantities.

"Instead of calling the cops, we're trying to help you. Can't you work with us here?" Gumball asked while following her around. He wasn't giving up that easy, no way.

Darwin trotted along, adding to his brother's words, "Let us help you find a better artistic outlet! There's tons to choose from, like paper, sculpting-"

"You don't understand-" The blonde puppet began.

"Oh we do understand! It's hard to get noticed, attention isn't easy to get after all." Gumball cut her off with an understanding look.

The puppet shook her head and groaned silently. They were quite persistent. A passing car suddenly honked its horn and the girl nearly lost her soft stuffing.

"Why are you so paranoid?" Darwin inquired about her reaction.

"It's one of withdrawal symptoms." Why did she tell them that? The way they were being genuinely nice, although pushy, was getting to her head. Unlike the people she knew, they sounded like they actually cared. Berating herself inwardly, she continued her search for the lost paint.

The children followed the girl around the neighborhood while she looked for her lost things. Suggestions were made, all ignored by their new 'friend' who found her lost cans and went to continue with her assignment.

Before she could use the spray on a fence, Darwin gently grabbed her by the hand, stopping her for a moment. "If you want to express yourself, surely there's a better way than vandalism."

"Whatever." Vivian twisted her arm from his weak hold and continued to paint. Her and others were doing this activity for days now, and they can't stop, they aren't allowed to. "We got our orders. So run along now, unless you want to help us."

Maybe the cat had misheard her, but did she say, "We?"

"Orders?" Darwin repeated curiously.

* * *

One anthropomorphic tiger. One walking motorcycle. Two of them in total. Obviously, teenagers because only students from Franklin wore red clothing. That's what said. Neal didn't notice it that much, but graffiti was highly prominent in this city. The scenery of the streets began to look like something out of the 90's gang movie. Some of those drawings were actually highly vulgar and inappropriate. Yet it wasn't hard to figure out who's behind this city renovation.

Neal's search didn't last too long. He found the two described Franklin guy's hanging around an alleyway between two stores. A tiger with big fangs dressed in red shorts and a walking motorcycle. Latter of whom looked more like a robot than a vehicle. He will be a problem to deal with, major one too. Neal thought of himself as a decent brawler, but even he can't damage metal with bare hands. He'll need a different strategy for the machine person.

The human stretched his arms and legs. Back straight, confident stride, strict look, he walked straight towards them. "Hey dust for brains. Having fun?" Neal got their attention with a cold tone. It was time to get to work.

* * *

"You mean to tell me someone made you do all of that?" Gumball pointed at the street where they came from. Why would anyone even want to spray paint half the town with nasty drawings? That just seemed stupid.

"In a way, yeah." The puppet admitted with barely any care while painting a massive shark eating people on the fence.

"Who?" Darwin asked her while trying to undo her work by wiping it off with his fins. That didn't seem to work.

"I'm not telling because you will know soon enough." In about a couple of weeks, or so she thought. And these two certainly didn't need to know that. She herself didn't know the purpose of this order, but she was forced to carry it out, unless…Vivian didn't want to think about it.

* * *

"Yo, who the heck are you supposed to be?" The tiger teen sauntered up to him with a gangster walk and a clearly aggressive expression. He didn't come particularly close to Neal and he got backed up by his motorcycle buddy.

"Why so hostile? I actually want to draw something too." Neal said with a tiny smirk, but his eyes sparkled dangerously, the only betraying feature of his poker face. The human was already looking for options against the motorcycle kid who stood a good foot taller than the lanky tiger. He could use the dumpsters. "But see, I prefer chalk instead of spray cans. Got any?"

"This ain't a kindergarten, we don't carry no chalk." The two guys closed in on Neal, and the human waited for them to come right up to his face. Some justice will be served.

* * *

Despite the menacing message behind the sentence, Gumball didn't get it at all nor did he care to dig deeper. What he needed to do now is make this girl stop plastering horrifying images all over his neighborhood. Somehow.

And then he got it. Gumball suggested his idea to the puppet girl. "How about you lead us to the guy who put you up for this and we have a little talk with him?"

Darwin immediately loved the idea. "Yeah, I'm sure he's an agreeable guy. We talk about it, square it away and boom, everyone's happy and no one goes to jail."

Vivian paused. That is a terrible idea! These two kids have no idea just what they're trying to get themselves into.

She wasn't fond of them, far from it. But going to Franklin, into that horrendous den of lions? No, out of the question. Her empathy, her very heart told her to not let them go there. She herself knew what the school is like, after all, Vivian lived in the Franklin dorms. And two innocent children stepping foot in there? That would be disastrous and she didn't need that on her skinny neck.

Vivian sighed and stood up, "Okay, you win."

Gumball nodded with a satisfied grin. In the end, she agreed! "Alright then, lead the way!"

"No, not that. Look, if I promise to leave this street alone and go painting on some abandoned buildings, will you stop pestering me and stay away from Franklin high?"

Gumball and Darwin shared a look with each other. Why wouldn't she want them visiting Franklin high? In the end, it doesn't matter, they got what they set out to achieve. "You got a deal." The blue cat put out his arm for a handshake, but that was gently swatted away by the puppet.

"And stop putting your nose in others business. You'll live longer." She said with a sense of warning before leaving the two children.

"Okay, bye! Have fun!" Darwin waved her goodbye. The little fish sighed and beamed happily. "I'm glad we managed to take care of this without causing any bodily harm to her. Or to ourselves."

Gumball smirked, of course they did it. They're awesome. But, some humility wouldn't hurt either. "I'm sure anyone could resolve this with words."

* * *

Neal cracked his knuckles with a menacing snarl, "Don't worry about it. My chalk will be your teeth."

The tiger had a puzzled expression on his snout. "I don't get it."

Neal grabbed him by the head and smashed it into the pavement. He then dragged his body for a few feet, the tigers teeth leaving white chalk-like scratch marks behind. "I get it…" He whined out in pain. His fangs were filed down completely, giving him a perfectly even teeth that would make dental ad's jealous.

"Well what do you know, I'm an artist and a dentist." If the motorcycle person doesn't come to him by his own will, Neal will come to him. He wanted to enact justice. And maybe these idiots will spread the message to the other bandits that it's not nice to ruin property. "Next patient, please."

* * *

The two brothers had enough of adventure for one day. As they were heading home, Darwin asked Gumball, "Hey, what do you think she meant by 'You will know soon enough'?"

"Probably one of those cryptic things that will come to bite us in the rear later on. Just like Carrie and that medallion she's always has in the box."

"What do you mean?"

"She's been messing around with a spooky talking medallion that speaks of its host or something. Dude, that's already a massive red flag for the future."

"Oh yeah. That. I forgot to tell you. I got attacked by a little gremlin creature last time I visited Carrie." Darwin remembered it clear as day, that little encounter wasn't very friendly. And that it focused his girlfriend more than him. It made him wonder just why did it attack them in the first place.

"They should really invest into pest control." Gumball remarked before entering their home. "At least we squared away the vandalism problem." The blue cat said, ignorant to the fact that there were many more such people roaming Elmore currently.

"What about all those houses that got trashed so much?" Darwin pointed at the other houses out of concern. When the owners and families see the state they're in, there will be a lot of sadness, and work.

"The clean up? Yeah, people can handle that one themselves. No need for us to get involved." His brother responded lazily, not wanting to do charity work during a weekend. They already took care of the main problem. The leftovers can be dealt with by others.

* * *

Neal wasn't one to talk during a fight, but even children back in his country could punch better. "Cute swing. Did your boyfriend teach you that?" Neal taunted the motorcycle robot, who got more riled up, his engine beginning to buzz even louder.

The human teen didn't bother throwing punches or kicks against a being made of metal. It would only serve to further mess up his banged knuckles. So for the past minute, Neal was weaving out of the sloppy punches thrown by the motorcycle and slowly leading him towards one of the dumpsters. When he glanced over his shoulder, he found himself standing behind one. Finally! Now, for the ending. "C'mon big boy, you can do better." Neal gestured for the machine to swing again.

The robot drew back his fist and attacked Neal out of pure fury. His intentions were so easy to predict that it wasn't even funny anymore. The human simply tilted his head to the right, avoiding the heavy jab, which sunk into the green metal container for trash. The robot tried to get himself loose, but his fist was firmly lodged in place no matter how hard he pulled.

"And now you're stuck until the waste disposal comes to pick up the garbage. Exactly where you belong. Have fun getting out." Neal said while simply walking away from the scene of the fight, leaving one guy with a new dental look and the other one, violently angry. If you can't beat them, troll them.

Hopefully the two guys have learned their lesson. Besides, talking never works. It never did. People only understand action, violence and strength. That's how it always was from the dawn of humanity and that's how it will always be. A more concerning question is, what are the police doing? Not a single cop car in sight, for days! Didn't Neal see a literal donut driving a law enforcement vehicle on day one of coming here?

When the human returned, he found that Alan and his parents were done cleaning up their house. Which was pretty fast for a couple of balloons. As if that wasn't enough, they went around the neighborhood, helping their neighbors with their cleaning and unfortunately for the tired blonde, he was also roped in to help.

The entirety of the Saturday was spent on assisting people who had their homes vandalized with cleaning. Few of said neighbors recognized Neal from those demeaning pictures on ElmorePlus, which put even more damper on his mood. Grumbling and silently cursing to himself, the human still went along with Kenae's until the evening mainly out of courtesy for them.

When time came to head to sleep, Neal was on his phone, browsing the internet before bed. Out sheer, morbid curiosity, he went to check ElmorePlus. It seemed that the Friday game had taken some, if not all of the heat off of him. There was something that caught his eye when he was about to quit the site. There was a recent picture posted by some Franklin student. It was a group of football players dressed in red colors, huddled around a big, metal cup made of gold.

'took back the trophy lmao #FranklinRealWinner'

Took back? What did they mean by that? Elmore Ducks won fair and square. "Hey Alan. Look at this." Neal showed his balloon roommate the post on his phone.

Always the optimistic nice guy, Alan smiled upon seeing the picture. "Bunch of friends celebrating the second place that they got. How fun!"

The blonde human shook his head, no, this wasn't the second place trophy that Franklin team got, this was the first place one. "No, not that. The trophy."

"What about it?"

"Isn't it the same one that Elmore Ducks received? The one locked up in our school in a display case or whatever?"

"Could be, I honestly don't remember the award ceremony that much." Alan yawned and settled in his bed, "Anyways, I'm pretty tired after helping out our neighbors. We'll talk tomorrow. Have a good night, Neal."

It didn't take the green balloon to pass out. After Neal shut off the lights he stayed awake for a little longer while thinking about that specific post. Did the team that lost could've actually broken into the school to take the trophy? No, that couldn't be it. This had to be some silly prank thrown together by a pissed fan for some attention.

With Alan sound asleep, the teen finally took off his gloves and stuffed them under his pillow. He checked the wrappings and tightened them before going to sleep, which served him as a reminder of Teri. His hands felt tired, and his back still stung occasionally from the thankless work that he did for all the people today. If this is what the weekend is like, he can only imagine what the new week will bring. Hopefully, nothing too extreme.

-End of chapter 13-


	14. Chapter 14

Just as Neal crossed the doorway of the junior high, his hopes for a calm week were ruined. Students in the hallway stood tightly packed in a circle. All discussing something in hushed tones. Being the good kid that he was, he turned the other way and attempted to leave the scene before he gets involuntarily pulled into whatever drama that gathering might bring.

"The golden cup! It's gone!" He heard principal Brown shout in absolute shock and horror.

Plan to avoid drama, failed. This was too good not to check out. Walking up to the gathered students, Neal stood on tippy toes to take a peek at whatever drama was unfolding.

The display case by the wall, it was broken. Shattered glass littered the floor tiles and Rocky, the orange and red puppet was already cleaning it up. Although his priority should be set on the profanity spray painted on the walls around the case. Everything in the case itself remained where it stood, expect that it now had a big, gaping space in the middle, where the golden cup used to stand. The same one that Elmore received for winning the football finale.

"Franklin high." Brown spat in anger. "Those darn, no good doers!" He stomped the floor out of frustration and poked himself in the foot from one of the shards.

"But what proof do we have that it's them that did it?" Rocky questioned in his comically nasal voice as hurriedly brushed the broken glass.

"The curse words in bright red are one clue." Neal thought as he directed his attention to the wall where the paint was sprayed.

They do have proof. Saturday evening, Neal checked ElmorePlus and saw a picture of the football players around a golden trophy. That was the most solid and obvious proof ever. Before speaking out however, he checked ElmorePlus on his phone again.

The picture was gone now. It wasn't a joke after all. They actually went and stole it and then deleted the only evidence. "What absolute lads!" Neal laughingly said to himself, causing a few heads to turn and look at him weirdly. To break into the school during weekend, steal the trophy and leave such explicit messages, takes some bravery, that or they are outright idiotic. Either way, this didn't concern him at all and Neal left for his locker.

"I will talk to Franklin's principal in a calm, civilized manner and ask him to return the trophy to the rightful and victorious owners." Brown announced in a more dignified manner and adjusted his glasses. "Now, all of you, go to your classes!" Principal commanded and the small crowd began dispersing.

* * *

Neal was disposing books he won't be needing for today's classes in his locker when he felt someone bump into him. He didn't turn his head to look who it was, but he had a good guess from the old school video game noise that the characters used to do when moving.

"What do you want, Harry?" He asked without turning to look at the one who clearly wanted attention, for some unknown reason.

"Nothing." Ocho responded dryly and kept bumping Neal in the back. It was two times now. The rumours were not true after all. Clayton, Juke and Tobias owed him fifteen dollars now. Their bet was simple, Ocho didn't believe the rumours that Pudding beat up a bunch of upper-classmen who bullied him. He was one of the biggest jokes in Elmore school, neither did he look like was strong or intimidating. So naturally, Ocho took up the bet. And now it looked like he was going to win it. He even bumped him the fourth time. Just as expected, Pudding did nothing about it.

Neal closed his eyes as a snarl crept up on his lips. His patience was cracking. One more bump. Just one, more, bump.

He didn't have to wait long for that to come.

Neal's foot crashed on top of Ocho as he was stomped into the ground. He hit the cold, hard tiles of the floor and his entire body blinked with static TV colours as if he took damage. Neal's foot held him firmly in place as he leaned closer to him and growled, "Do you want to lose all your extra lives?"

Ocho didn't answer, just stared at him with a glitching mouth representing a quivering lip. "Thought so. Annoy me again and I will beat you like the level one mob you are." The human left Ocho shaking and wide eyed on the floor as he went to his class.

Neal hadn't noticed before, but many students in this school were, for better or for worse, whacky. No class was quiet when Simian wasn't present and that greatly annoyed the blonde teen. Attending class with kids one year younger than him was a massive pain. He wanted to plug his ears to stop listening to ridiculous conversations that they had. But attending classes with inhuman kids, was even worse.

It was horrifying when he saw Sarah get melty from the higher room temperature. She wiped off her forehead and flicked her wrist as if wiping off sweat, and some of it flew on Neal's cheek. Drops of melted Sarah. On his face. Dear God!

Bobert, the short robot, downloaded information to his memory for math and he probably encountered a virus which made him start blubbering about humanity's extermination. A quick reset of his system fixed it, but it was alarming nonetheless. It's a good thing Neal is hidden by Tina's massive body in front of him.

Whenever Masami had her emotions run on the negative side, she would start expelling moisture out of her body. It was highly annoying when dew started forming on Neal. Tiny drops would fall from his hair on his notes or glasses and his clothes felt slightly damp, pissing off the teen to no end.

Speaking of the dinosaur that shielded the view of the board, Neal had his head swatted by her tail many times. Even his glasses flew off once. The darned lizard probably does it on purpose. Not to mention her loud breathing and the nasty smell that radiated from her jaws.

Tobias kept talking about himself and how his parents got him a new up to date phone. He also kept glancing Neal's way while giggling and exchanging notes with Juke. They were probably making fun of him, but the human ignored them and stayed strictly silent during class.

During recess, Neal went out into the playground to dry himself out, but found the sunlight blocked off by Hector, the giant. So he couldn't get dry in time for another class. He tripped over Idaho when going back because he's a small potato and ended up falling through Carrie, which felt like he went through a freezer. Leslie sneezed and spread pollen that got into Neal's eyes and made them itchy.

And after the blue cat and fish boy randomly broke out into a musical number about being best bros, it was official. First day of having a clear head on the school and he hated this class. He just wanted to finish classes with normal classmates, go home and do normal kid stuff. But no, they have to make it weird. To make matters worse, vandalism and dangerous gangs ran rampant in Elmore after the football championship had concluded. Why did his parents sent him to this specific town? Why not Washington? Or Brooklyn? No, it had to be freaking Elmore.

When lunch time rolled around, Neal couldn't eat in piece either because Alan requested help.

Neal had to carry his roommates tray of food because the balloon couldn't do it by himself and Carmen was nowhere to be found. "Entire class, designed to piss me off until I graduate. Now I see how this is a punishment." The human quietly grumbled under his nose when setting down the two trays. At some point, he expected to trip over another small student and get the food all over himself. Luckily that didn't happen.

When the two friends sat down to eat, Alan asked, "So, fresh new week. How are you doing so far?"

Neal spun the spoon in the sloppy mess that was the school food while thinking up an answer. "Damp, cold, with itching eyes and upset stomach because a certain dinosaur doesn't use a mouthwash and still being made fun of." He worded everything that's wrong with Monday. "This slop looks exactly how I feel."

Neal took a few deep breaths and relaxed, no point in being upset over something so trivial. He spotted Aton walking past them. Finally, some good freakin food and a change of subject. "Ay, toasty! C'mere, Neal is hungry!"

Aton quickly power-walked away from their table with a mortified expression. "Hmm. I guess he was already ordered and delivering himself." Neal scratched his chin with a grin as a sudden thought occurred to him, was he being racist here?

"Neal, one of the school rules is not to eat other students." Alan's roommate snorted and began to giggle after his explanation. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just that I had a PG-18 joke run through my mind."

"Okay, what is going on here?" It was quite strange how the humans behavior changed for some reason.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"You're way more, talkative. And I'm not sure if it's for the best either, take no offense."

"I intend to."

"...I don't know how to talk to you." Chatting with Neal had become a little difficult. Not to mention the rapid fire remarks.

"Would you prefer if I said what you wanted to hear?" Neal asked before putting a spoon full of goop in his mouth. It wasn't nearly as bad as he thought, what's with the kids complaining about school food?

Ignoring the difficult question, Alan decided to change the subject for the time being. "So how do people have fun in your country?" It would be nice to learn about Neal's home for once.

"Well, in my place, it's usually alcohol, cigarettes, loud music and then…" Neal picked a sausage off his plate and a donut. He then put the sausage through the donut hole.

Alan stared at the human for a few seconds without saying anything. "...I don't get it."

"Of course you don't." Neal deadpanned. Must be nice to be so innocent and oblivious. "Random question, but if you found a genie lamp, what would you wish for?"

Alan answered almost immediately, "Happiness for the entire earth! What about you?"

Neal hummed while chewing on his food. "Hmm. I would wish that all spiders could fly."

"...why?"

"To watch the world burn."

"That sounds like something Carrie would say. You two would get along well."

"Who?"

It's been a week since he moved here, and he doesn't know who is who in his class? "Neal, do you know anything about your classmates? Or even their names?"

"You're my roommate, I know that much." The human answered truthfully and added, "Your name is Alan."

He attends the same class with all of them yet he doesn't remember their names. Alan wanted to test him out. "Okay. Name one more."

There was a long pause before Neal took a wild guess, "...Timmy?" Alan gave him the 'really?' look and Neal shrugged, "I'm sorry, but this right here-" Neal tapped his head, "Isn't designed to remember insignificant people." Only two people mattered to him and they were Teri and Alan. In that particular order.

"So, Carrie. Which one is she?" Neal gestured to a glowing fairy with horns sitting a few tables away, "That one?"

"No. That's Penny, also our classmate."

"That so? Never seen her before."

"You're messing with me."

"Maybe."

Alan used his string to point at the floating goth spirit sitting together with Leslie and Molly.

"The emo ghost? She's a legit student?" Neal muttered in surprise. "I thought she only haunted this school much like the ghosts from that one book about wizards."

"Neal, that's offensive."

"Well, I bet you if I say her name three times, I'll summon her." He chuckled to himself at his guess. The good old internet hoax of Bloody Marie. "Carrie, Carrie, Carrie."

Somewhere in the cafeteria, a familiar sound akin to that of a cracking whip reached their table. A millisecond later, the same sound, only much closer happened. And out popped the gothic ghost from thin air. "No way that just happened." Neal stared at the unexpected arrival in sheer surprise.

The ghost girl adjusted her scenic haircut and addressed them with a huff of angst. "What do you guys want?"

"That usually doesn't work." Alan muttered and then smiled. "I think you're becoming one of us."

Neal whipped his head around, "Come again?"

"Nothing~!" He should've phrased it better.

"...right. Anyways." Neal repeated the sequence of his classmates name three more times. Each time that the floating ghost would be summoned back, her expression would grown more displeased. "Oh man, this is fun."

"Would you stop that! It takes energy to make these jumps you know!"

"Right, right."

Carrie floated back to her table with an angry huff and Neal shrugged in response. So much for making friends.

"Well look who's active and ready to take the day by the horns." A condescending and familiar voice spoke up.

Neal groaned internally. Someone will always ruin your fun. "Oh for crying out loud. Don't you have anything better to do?" He spun around in his seat to face the all familiar bully of his.

A stick figure, massive plushy bear, a rat in a hoodie and a disembodied hand. Their group had an extra addition. A walking cupcake with black leather gloves and shoes. She looked far from delicious with that droopy gray-pink icing and a rotting cherry on top. "Hey sweet stuff, got a name?" Neal asked, ghosting Julius in the process.

"What is it to you?" She answered with a question of her own.

"Oh I'm just interested to know why a girl would walk around with those four." Neal gestured with his chin at Julius and his other friends who had rising snarls from his disrespect. "What, are they paying you to hang out with them? Bet you I can pay more." He winked at her and the cupcake girl let out a throaty chuckle.

"Shut up, Pudding. Or else-" Scythe, the rat, growled with a jealousy filled glare. Neal must've touched a nerve.

"Or what?" He suddenly sprung from his seat and came closer to Julius. "You all gonna get floored after few love taps like you did last Friday?" And the cafeteria went silent. Everyone stared at them, even Alan didn't want to play a peacekeeper.

Did Pudding have to announce their fight so loudly? Now the rumors will spread like fire.

"You're just itching for beatdown, aren't you?" Julius growled with clenched teeth. Quicker to the trigger than usual. Did he already forgot what happened on Friday?

"You obviously want to experience deja vu." Neal fired back and got in Julius's face. The taller teen made no move, as did his friends. Everyone in the cafeteria expected a fight to break out at any moment so they awaited in expectant silence.

"You wanna swap blows again?" If Julius wanted another fight, he sure as heck will get one. "I'm all open." Neal spread his arms out and stepped into more open area. "C'mon, swing it. I know you want to." He taunted the taller teen without a hint of fear.

Get into another fight, save his pride and what little intimidation he has over other students, but get detention, or walk away and leave him alone. Julius didn't need to think twice to find an answer. "Sure, pudge canister, let's go."

"Alright, outside, right now. I'll show you a thing and two. Maybe then you won't suck so bad!"

"I'll stomp you into dust you freaking-!"

The rest was a blur. Julius and his buddies insulting him. Alan trying to talk him out of it. The walk to the playground. Before he knew it, Neal was surrounded by a bunch of students who shouted 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' repeatedly out of excitement. Maybe he will be able to fix his reputation through violence? Bullying would certainly stop, that's a massive plus. And maybe, just maybe, Teri likes bad boys?

The paper bear wasn't present in the group of students on the playground. What a massive disappointment. Out of all his classmates, she's the one missing. Probably at the nurse again. "_And_ _you think violence solves everything?" _Her words echoed in his mind. Perhaps it's for the best that she's not here.

This put a damper on his confidence. Why even bother? Right, fixing his reputation. "Hey, Sulfur, you really want to fight again?!"

"Yeah, I do. Don't tell me you're getting scared after that much bravado in the cafeteria." Julius responded and got into a boxing stance. His knuckles itched for a fight, a rematch where he will humiliate this moron in front of everyone. He needed to knock the idea out of all the present kids that he got floored by Pudding.

Neal could see a tinge of red on Julius's head. He was irritated. Thinking back on their first bout, when he went red headed, his punch was more powerful. So the angrier he is, the stronger his attacks are? Then what about the fuse on his head, what happens if it burns out? He didn't want to experience that one. "Fine, let's do this."

Julius's pals, all four stood in the crowd. It looks like it will be a one on one gladiator style fight, just like last time. It's surprising that street code was being followed by those people. Cheers from the students rose in volume as the two teens launched into action.

The two kids went at each other, fists raised and ready to dish out damage. Except, Julius was the one swinging and missing. Neal didn't punch back or block, he simply weaved out of his attacks.

"Grrrr! Why can't I hit him!?" The tinge of red grew into more saturated color on Julius's head with each attack missed. He put more strength behind the attacks, only for them to miss by a larger margin.

"You're swinging too strong and too slow because you're pissed. Accuracy over power." Neal pointed out after ducking under a wide punch.

"What do you know about-!" Right jab, right jab, uppercut and left hook. Julius missed the entire chain and got counterattacked by a painful backhand to the cheek.

"Obviously more than you." Neal replied while shaking his reddening palm. He then added insult to the injury, "Which explains why the only people in this school capable of standing up against Franklin are getting trashed."

That line stung Julius right in his pride. His face turned a deep shade of red and the fuse on his head lit up. Neal cursed himself and his loose tongue. But before panic could set in within the observers, Julius was forced to calm himself as Miss Simian busted into the playground.

"FLOWERS! OPPENHEIMER!"

Neal cringed at the use of his last name. In front of nearly his entire class and some other students too. Simian was upon them in a moment. Grabbed the two teens, Neal by his ear and Julius by the fuse and pulled them towards the school building. "Fighting on school grounds are we? Detention! DETENTION!"

"Jeez, you don't have to scream so loud woman." Julius grunted while getting dragged off from the playground.

"Least we can agree on that much." The human added while wincing from the pull on his ear.

* * *

Neal predicted this will happen. That was the only reason why he wanted to have a fight in the first place. Cause a scene, flap his hands around a little, get in trouble and some manner of demeaning behavior from others will decrease. Mainly because he shows off that he's not afraid to throw down.

They will get double homework because they missed the classes. And with only two of them in detention, carrying out the order of sitting quietly wasn't that hard. Julius's friends didn't get put together with them simply because they were also observing.

Neal sat in the front and Julius in the very far back row. Unfortunately, there were cameras installed in the corners of the class, so they had no choice but to be passive for now. Both were silent and they didn't mind it that much. But it was boring, oh so very boring. While Neal patiently sat and waited for the detention to be over like a statue, Julius tried to entertain himself somehow. He fiddled around with a pencil until he got bored and decided to fling it at Neal.

Got him right in the head. Ten points.

Neal leaned against the back support and exhaled loudly, "What's your problem, Julius?"

"..."

He didn't get a response. Which was understandable. "Never mind, I get it. This isn't about your daddy or mommy issues. That much I can tell." He didn't look like a person with family issues, that's for sure. Again, the human received no response, which he took as a cue for him to continue talking.

"Let me take a wild guess here and say that you're trying to compensate for the way that Franklin kids knocked you down a peg by taking it out on others." He wanted to turn around and talk to him eye to eye, but that's not how people like Neal and Julius should behave. Neal had to show him that they're of the same street kind. So he stayed seated, facing the backboard in a relaxed position and hoped that Julius will hear him out.

"Now, I have no idea how or when it happened, but I get the feeling that it definitely happened." Neal didn't know that he hit the correct mark. It's been days, almost weeks since Franklin kicked Julius and his friends out of their hideout. The main place where they get together to have fun. They can't even walk in Elmore without the anxiety of getting ganged up on.

"After all, you don't strike me as the type who would willingly hang out in school after the classes are done." Neal knew what delinquency is, he was always leaning towards that side and attended a horrible small town school. He knew exactly why Julius was the way that he his. Gangster mentality. He tried to hold on to what little 'turf' and pride he had left. And there was Neal, the new kid, here to take what little he has left of his attention.

But to reclaim what is lost, one has to lose everything first.

"Open your eyes, fool. You think I'm not pissed? It hurts my pride because I go to school full of whining weaklings who get bullied by another school who's out of control."

"You still have dignity after Franklin idiots made you into a clown for the entire town to laugh at?" Julius cut in with a hard and demeaning question, with the true meaning behind it being: How dare you to still have pride after showing such weakness?

"Which is exactly why I'm pissed. It was stupid of me not to fight back that day." Neal replied hotly, fully admitting to his own idiocy. "But unlike you, I don't take it out on people who are on the same side."

Same side. Julius's interest was piqued and he didn't interrupt Neal anymore. Technically, what Neal said, wasn't wrong. Him and his friends aren't the only ones who got burnt by Franklin. Other students were being picked on everywhere, on the internet, in the streets, even their homes in a form of vandalism. The students were in this together. The entire Elmore Junior high is in this together. That realization sparked a different outlook for Julius and he continued listening to Neal.

"While we're busy bickering amongst ourselves, Franklin broke into the school and made a mockery of us. Do you realize how heavy this is? They're showing off that they can do whatever the hell they want." That's why Julius came at Neal today. He finally lost everything in a metaphorical sense and he was looking for an outlet.

"How much longer before some unfortunate kid gets put in a hospital, or worse? How much longer until they start harassing the city folk? What if by sheer accident they get your parents? Or the girl that you love?"

At the mention of his family and girlfriend, Debbie, Julius clenched his jaw tightly, a familiar fury rising in his chest. He didn't even want to know what he would do if that scenario happened. Probably something horrifying.

"I won't fight you anymore, Julius. It's useless. You want to bully me? Fine. Go ahead. Shoving around those who had nothing to do with you losing ground in the streets will accomplish nothing but temporary gratification."

"By the end of the day, you're still going to be Franklin's b*#$h."

"Neal! You just earned an extra hour of detention!" The speakers blared loudly, carrying Principal Browns voice.

Neal's words cut through the stick figure like a knife through butter. The logic was undeniable and it hurt a lot. It hurt that Pudding, no, Neal was so correct. About everything.

"Whether you like it or not, I attend the same school. I'm here to stay and you won't get rid of me because I don't plan on taking your crap any longer. But, just so you know-" The short blonde glanced over his shoulder at Julius, "I'm on your side."

Both students had a lot to think about. The rest of detention was spent in heavy silence.

* * *

After the detention concluded, the human had one more class left. He wanted to see Teri before school is out for the day. When looking for the paper bear, he couldn't help but wonder how he'll interact with her. Before the game during Friday, he dropped some heavy hints of his romantic interest in her. And he did step in when those Franklin goons were making moves on them. Maybe she forgot all about those two little encounters during and after their cheering performance? That would surely suck.

Neal bumped into one of his classmates as he rounded the hall corner. Masami. She nearly dropped her books. So the could girl has hands! Scoffing at how truly stupid he was for helping her with homework during first few days here, he apologized for the small accident and walked around her to continue on his merry way.

"Neal, wait!" Masami called out and the human paused in his step. She was present in the cafeteria and the playground during the drama. Her online message groups are blowing up! The entire school was talking about the fight that happened between him and that notorious jerk of a bully.

Then there was the Friday game fiasco too. Maybe he wasn't a complete nerd. Someone from her class is actually cool, like her. Having him around as one of her friends now of all times when he's such a hot topic would certainly give her a social standing boost. Not that she needed more, but it still would be a nice plus.

Masami put on her flirty tone and chirped as sweetly as possible, "I was thinking, when will you assist me with my homework again? Also, Tobias has been bo-"

"Hey, have you seen Teri around?" Neal cut her off with his own question.

"I…ugh, library." She replied, caught off guard.

"Okay, cool." The human made a beeline for the stairs. And just like that, he intentionally blew her off. For the second time now.

He couldn't help but wonder, was she going to ask him to do something to Tobias? What a ridiculous thought. The blonde snickered quietly as he ascended the stairs to the second floor. Neal lifts a finger and what? Suddenly everyone wants a piece of him? What a load of stinking baloney.

The library was partially empty on such a nice day. Only a few students who cared a lot about their grades secluded themselves within the school facility. The human found Teri in the very far back, sitting by one of the tables. Girl had quite a few books and notebooks on the table, probably busy with assignments. A little too much for simple homework one might say.

As much as Neal would've liked for her to be done first, he still wanted to chat with her. The blonde sneaked up to her from behind and peered over her shoulder. Yeah, definitely too much work for normal day homework. Well, it was time for her to take a break.

"HeyAh!" Voice crack. Seriously?

Teri jumped out of her chair from surprise. "Neal! Hey, hi, hello Neal." She blurted out a greeting quickly. He certainly dropped in unexpectedly. The memory of his teasing, flirty comments from Friday were still very fresh in the bears memory. Did he like her? Was he just playing around? He hurt his hands in a fight but still walked away without major injury, does that mean he has some impressive muscles under all those clothes? That last thought was stomped out quickly.

Poor girl couldn't sleep properly during weekend or think of anything else. It was this little microbes fault. And the jumpscare that he gave her just now, it wasn't funny at all. With a sudden frown, she was about to let him hear it, but he beat her to it.

"What's with the nervous greeting? Do I look sick?" Neal asked with a growing smile. "Trust me, I haven't had a cold in almost a week, I'm safe to be within a smooching range." He puckered his lips and wiggled his eyebrows in a comical manner.

The girls thoughts came to a screeching halt. So he wasn't just kidding. Teri blushed at first and after a moment, cracked up in quiet giggles, her displeasure with him quickly forgotten. If it's a flirty banter he wants, he's got one. Even though she never done it before. "Heh, if that's how you greet everyone, I'll have to disciple you."

"Oh, whatcha gonna do? Give me a bath?" He asked in return, his cheeks heating up rapidly. "I wouldn't mind one, but only if we're in there together."

Teri rolled her eyes with a small grin of her own. She needed to cool him off a little before other students could hear what they're talking about. Teri reached out and patted him on the head, surprising the teen in the process.

"Wow. You fell 'short' with that one." She pointed out the height difference between themselves with a playfully pun. The human was shorter than her by few good inches and Teri had to cast her eyes down to meet his.

Neal's face went red from embarrassment. He didn't think his height would be an issue. Two can play that game. "Well, I'm working on a 'thin' budget here." He shot back, pointing out her paper slim body.

Clearing his throat, he continued. "Anyways, I didn't see you in math class." I didn't see you during my fight is what Neal wanted to add, but didn't. "Nurse visit again?"

"Yes. I thought I had late Neuroblastoma. Turns out I was just sitting for too long and my legs went numb." She explained while brining her attention to her notebooks.

"And I'm quite glad that it wasn't that. You know, good amounts of exercise could prevent half of all known illnesses." Neal smoothly glided over to the point, "So how about you drop this insane amount of homework and let's have a walk or something?" Remembering how all the students kept eyeballing him after he got out of detention, that didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. "Know what? Scratch that, let's stay here."

Even if Teri couldn't take up his offer, she wanted to know what brought up his sudden change of mind. "Why so?"

"I ugh…got into another fight." He admitted without beating around the bush. It would be for the best if she heard it from him first than from an online message.

"So that explains the sudden visit!" Terri's eyes lit up with worry. "Did you get hurt again?"

"What? No, no." Neal removed his glove and rushed to explain, "See? Bandages are all there, no new injuries. I'm fine." He slipped the glove back on after Teri sighed in relief. "Sorry, I didn't want to cause you such worry. I guess I'm not there yet in terms of talking instead of punching."

"At least you're okay." Those apologetic puppy eyes of his, Teri couldn't berate him even if she wanted. "What about the one you…well, you know?" The paper girl even showed concern for those who didn't need it.

"He's fine. Slapped him once, both of us got detention. Now everyone is looking at me like I'm some kind of anomaly." Neal replied, feeling a little bitter that she was even worried about the guy who mocked him for no reason. Then again, he had long since realized that Teri cared about everyone, that's one of the reasons why he liked her so much.

"Well that's a relief that nobody got hurt." She said while giving Neal a sharp look as if a warning him to never do it again. "I forgot, was there a reason you wanted to see me?"

"What? Must I have a reason? I can't chat with my favorite person in this school?"

"Oh, I'm your favorite?" Teri asked jokingly as if not believing him.

"By far, no one comes close." He reassured her with confidence.

"Any reasons as to why I'm your favorite?"

"I believe I told you already, but I'll repeat myself, just to drive the point home."

"You don't have to. I remember." Teri responded, tinge of red coloring her cheeks.

"Okay then. Anyways, whatcha up to?" Neal leaned over her shoulder to peer at her notebooks.

"Homework, lots and lots of homework." Teri responded with a tired sigh.

"Extra stuff? Didn't think you were that bad at stu-"

"Neal, have you ever checked the school website? My grades are fourth highest in our class next to Bobert and those two eggs." She quickly pointed out with a pound smirk, "I am a perfect student."

Just as the pride swelled, it immediately went away. "Or at least, I would be if it weren't for…" All the nurse visits caused her to miss classes. With lack of attendance, Teri earned herself more homework to compensate for her missed education time. "Let's just say I have to work extra hard because of what I am."

"Ah. I understand." Neal said as he pulled up a chair beside her and took a seat. "Alright, what are working with here?"

She looked at him questioningly, "What are you doing…" Does he, , the third worst student next to Gumball and Darwin, actually intend to help her with homework?

"Two of us tackling this together will free you up sooner. Less work, less stress, less health issues." Neal stated calmly. He took the gloves off and took out a pen from his backpack. The human took one of Terri's notebooks, English grammar and studied it carefully. "I'm not the smartest guy…nah, I'm legit textbook stupid, but even I can do a few things."

"Neal, you will cause more harm than good. Miss Simian will recognize the difference in our shrift." Teri hastily tried to smack the idea out of his head. Doing portion for her homework for her would be outright cheating. The bear certainly didn't want to face punishment in the form of bad grades.

"Okay…I think I got it." The blonde muttered evenly and clicked his pen into action.

"Wait! Didn't you hear me, you-" Teri was about to stop him, only to notice how alike his shrift was to hers. "Oh..wow." First written sentence was a little shaky. But by the third, it looked like it was her hand that was writing it.

"I forged more parent and doctor notes than I can count." He explained quietly. It wasn't something to be proud of, but at least he learned some useful skills. All in the effort to skip out on school. "You're being helped by a master class skipper here." He boasted with a small smile.

"But wouldn't you rather focus on your homework in-"

Neal wordlessly pointed at the ticking clock on the wall. Time was running out, not that much recess left, only twenty minutes.

"Okay, okay." She caved in, wanting to get the assignments done as soon as possible before the bell ring. Besides, it's nice having someone finally help her take care of such a massive load of work. "By the way, did you wash your hands?"

* * *

The final class for the Monday had finally ended. But not everyone went home after school. One particular student had asked his friends to stay after class for an emergency discussion.

Tobias was pacing back and forth between the school desks while Clayton, Molly and Anton looked at him funny. He's been ranting in circles for three minutes, talking himself in and out of frustration.

"I mean, they stole it! Straight up nicking in this house, fool!" Tobias failed his arms around to express his already obvious frustration.

"Dude, stop talking like that." Clayton groaned, face against desk, embarrassed to even look at his friend when he pretended to act like a gangster.

Tobias rolled his eyes and started speaking normally again, "Alright, fine. But that doesn't change the fact."

"What fact?" Molly spoke up from her seat.

"That Franklin fart heads stole our trophy!" Tobias spat out of anger. He craned his neck back to give his dinosaur classmate an accusing look, "Were you not listening?"

Molly awkwardly scratched her long neck and shrugged, "Sorry. I couldn't understand your slang most of the time."

"So what if they stole it?" Anton chimed in after he hopped out of his pacing friends way. "What can we do about it? Look at us and look at them. No chance." He added sadly. None of them were built for looking scary or tough. No chance of reclaiming what belongs to them.

"We gotta get it back. By any means necessary." Tobias concluded with absolute determination burning in his eyes.

"Didn't you hear what principal Brown said in the morning? He will talk to the other schools principal and retrieve it with no trouble." Clayton helpfully pointed out, hoping to logic his will be enough to hint at the stupid idea that his rainbow colored classmate had. "No need for us to butt our heads in. Stay and chill."

"Why do you guys even care for some piece of yellow painted junk?" A familiar, guttural voice popped out of nowhere. Sarah had appeared out of the blue and spooked everyone present.

All except one rainbow colored person with a sports headband. He face palmed after hearing the ice cream cone. "Why? Why!? C'mon! Our team got the trophy, we showed Franklin that we are not complete losers and we are worthy of respect instead of bullying. Our school did something right for once and we even appeared in a newspaper." He explained in a very clear and controlled manner.

Then the short humanoid balled his fists out of rising irritation, "And now the trophy is stolen! Bullying still continues! They vandalized peoples homes! Took over a certain spots in the city which they always camp out in and you can't pass without trouble and I got shoved in a trash can yesterday!" He concluded with hurting self esteem.

"I don't have a problem with that last one." Sarah joked and received a silencing glare from her classmate.

"I say we go to their school and steal it back." Tobias was certain that it will be way easier than it sounds. Taking something from a pack of meat heads would be a walk in the park.

"Bad idea." Clayton spoke up immediately and all the kids nodded in agreement. Principal

Tobias raised his eyebrow as if not impressed or even surprised by such a reaction from his buddies. "Remember how you went to buy soda, they spotted you and flushed you down the toilet?" He remembered too. He saw it and was one of the people who laughed and took pictures. It was a good Thursday.

"Yeah…?" Clayton vinced at the memory of that day. It was absolutely disgusting. How exactly did they even know he was going to that particular store, it was beyond him. It was located in a remote spot.

"Want that to repeat itself?" Tobias asked and received a negative reply.

Sarah rubbed her round chin in thought. "They did bomb my fanfictions with terrible reviews. I don't even know how they knew it was me who wrote them. I used a pseudonym." She sighed and rubbed her arm out of uncomfortable embarrassment, "Then they revealed to the internet my true identity. I couldn't even do any damage control in time."

"My house got vandalized. With pieces of bread! It was awful!" Anton spoke up loudly and hugged himself. He was home alone, parents had already went to work early in the morning. When he opened the blinds to let the sunlight in, bread started hitting the windows. With no parents home and dairy products slaughtered before his eyes, it was quite traumatic. "I had to call mom and dad to come home from work. I still see a therapist."

"You think that's bad?" Clayton asked with honest surprise at how trivial Antons troubles were in comparison to his. "Try having to clean off graffiti images of naked clay sculptures, with your parents! I still can't look them in the eye. We haven't talked in days." He finished in a miserably sad whisper.

Molly raised her leg as if answering the teacher. "Ugh, they didn't do anything bad to me."

Everyone directed angry looks at her. The poor dinosaur quickly tried to correct herself, "Besides the whole vandalism thing. It did happen, but Alan and his friend came over and cleaned the whole thing up." She finished with a happy smile which didn't seem to appease the rest of her classmates at all.

"Geez, I wonder why that is." Tobias replied sarcastically to the boring dinosaur. "So, we all agree that Franklin guys are absolute jerk heads in need of a good lesson?" Everyone reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"And we can't wait, can we? What if it keeps getting worse?" Again, the kids nodded. "If Franklin needs more proof that we're no pushovers besides the Friday game, then they will have it. Oh they will!"

"Alright, before the school closes, we need to agree on-"

The door of their classroom opened with the most infamous brothers walking in. "I'm telling you, that talking pedant will bring some big trouble." Darwin spoke in a worried tone.

"So what? It's just a cursed object, she has many of those things in her room." Gumball replied nonchalantly. "Hey, what are you guys still doing here?" He asked after noticing some of his friends sitting in a circle.

"What are you still doing here?" Tobias asked with a suspicious look. "Were you listening to us?"

"No, I forgot my notes." Darwin spoke up.

"Were talking about getting back the football trophy that was stolen by Franklin kids." Molly helpfully explained much to Tobias chagrin. The sport bands wearing student didn't need those two getting involved in his moment of glory.

"That shiny lump of tin?" Gumball asked and Molly nodded. "Awh! Why didn't you guys tell us! We could've helped!" The blue cat whined in disappointment.

"We didn't do anything yet." Anton pointed out.

"It's good that you didn't, because without me, absolute failure will follow in your poorly organized operation." Gumball quickly recovered with a snarky response. He hadn't realized that anyone cared that much about some spray painted can. But sneaking in another school to take it back? It sounded like a heist scenario from a movie, or a really fun version of capture the flag. Either way, he wanted in.

Gumball pulled himself on top of a table and stood proud and mighty, ready to address his friends in this dire time of depression, "We suffered humiliation for the first and last time."

The blue cat began, oblivious to the fact they they were getting humiliated for many days now.

"We shall rise up against those thieves! They think they can steal from us with no consequence, but they're wrong! We will show them that we're just as capable of winning as we are at taking back what's ours!"

"Uh...what is he doing?" Tobias asked Darwin with a sour look. Was it just him, or was his control over the meeting slipping out of his grasp?

"Taking charge. Like a true hero." Sarah answered instead of Darwin with a longing gush.

"No more, no more I say! We aren't pushovers who stand by and let others do as they please!" Gumball paced around the table while waving his finger around. He was fired up at the prospect of such an adventure. Hence his passionate speech which he delivered like a mighty leader in his opinion. "All of us will stand united against those grade-A jerks and show them who's the boss here! Now who's with me!?"

Everyone unanimously responded,"I am!" The ice cream girl was quite literally fangirling because of how cool Gumball was presenting himself in front of them.

Tobias, with a grumpy expression, crossed his arms with a judgemental stare. He was supposed to be in charge, therefore becoming the most popular kid in school. But that plan, much to his disappointment, has spiraled out of control.

"This sounds so exciting! So fun! I can't wait!" Molly cheered. She finally gets to do something interesting for once. Maybe more people will want to befriend her too.

"I'll text you all the details when I have a plan ready." Gumball said after climbing back down from the desk. "Until then, stand by and wait for my command."

Darwin had returned with his notebooks in hand and they were about to leave when Clayton stopped them for a moment, "Wait! Do you at least know when we should move out?"

Gumball pondered on that question. Principal Brown said he will go to Franklin high school today. For maximum effect of surprise and praise, they should go there as soon as possible. "When everyone will least expect it, before principal Brown goes there himself to get the trophy back.

"Which is?"

"Tonight." The painfully boring Monday just got so much more interesting for everyone involved.

* * *

_**Authors note:**_ _I started a massive original story that I will link to in the future chapters of Fake Chemistry. Maybe even reference it sometimes. You guys might like it, since it has everything. Clever fights, magic, offensive humor, romance. So yeah, this is the reason as to why the updates slowed down so much._

_Okay, folks, if I don't update again, it's 'cause I'm dead. Peace! _


	15. Chapter 15

Gumball, Darwin, Clayton, Anton, Molly and Tobias. Only one uncounted for was Sarah. All of them had boarded the bus when it was clear that the ice-cream girl will not show up. "We ride over to the Franklin high, get in through the back window, find the trophy, get out and put it back in the place before principal Brown gets it. Simple, straight to the point." Gumball explained to his friends from the front seat. He didn't see them, but he did assume they nodded.

One particular detail worried Clayton, "But what about-"

"School is already out, only ones remaining are janitors and teachers swamped with work. If we're quiet, they won't even notice us." Gumball answered the question before it was asked with a proud grin. He thought of everything.

"What if the school has security cameras?" Clayton finished his previous question.

"A place full of hoodlums who don't even know basic addition and subtraction? Yeah, no chance."

"I think that would be an even greater reason for them to have security cameras installed. We should think this through." The orange fish added with a hint of worry.

Gumball rolled his eyes in dismissal. "Dude, don't tell me, you're getting cold feet?"

"Yeah man, what are you? A fish, or a chicken?" Tobias added his two cents on the issue.

"I still think this is a bad idea." Darwin voiced his opinion clearly. It was obvious that no one will listen to him.

"Come on! Think of this as a miniature school trip with a slim chance of us ending up in a hospital." Gumball said in a hushed tone so that his other friends wouldn't hear him.

Silence befell the bus and everyone felt prickles of nervousness gnaw at them. Everyone here is heading into the lion's den, both figuratively and literally. The setting sun had painted the sky and the building windows with a deep shade of orange. Sidewalks were clearing out, along with the traffic, soon becoming devoid of people as all activity fell behind the bus. They were leaving the supposed good part of Elmore. Funny how not long ago, the entirety of the city was considered as 'good'. Or at least, normal with no good or bad parts. But now it's clear that times have changed, for the worse. For most people that is.

Some were still living in blissful ignorance. Like the anthropomorphic cat who sat beside his fish brother. Not worrying at all, he hoped that they will soon be done with this 'quest' of theirs. He thought that it would be their most suspenseful and character building adventure to date. So far, he didn't feel like his character is getting built. Matter of fact, he began wishing he was at home, watching TV with a bag of chips by the side. That or texting to Penny.

"You think we can pull this off?" Tobias asked his blue friend one seat behind him. It's not like he was getting worried or anything, but some manner of reassurance would be nice.

"It's just like that time you asked me and Darwin to ninja our way into the girls locker room to find out if Masami is single. Except now we have more people to work with."

The bus came to a stop and the group of kids reached their destination. Sort of. There's still a few blocks left to cover before they reach Franklin high school grounds. No person was braving the streets during this time of hour. Especially with the infamous school so close by and it's students roaming around.

Tobias was constantly glancing over his shoulder, while trying to play off his nervousness with an act of a relaxed cool guy. The sweaty headband betrayed him. Anton was sweating breadcrumbs from all orifices of his toast body. To the sauropod, Molly, the outing felt like picking daisies, fun and innocent. Clayton had several transformations in mind if trouble arises and he needs to book it as fast as possible.

Gumball was the second out of the group to feel at ease like Molly. To him, it was like taking another walk through the neighborhood on a nice day. Being the one in charge of leading this reclaiming task, certainly helped to boost his confidence. His marine brother still had minor PTSD after the last stroll through the dark parts of Elmore. So he clung to Gumball, much to the cat's great annoyance. "Darwin. Please. I can't feel my arm anymore."

"Oh, right. Sorry." The fish let go of him. "Are you sure no one will jump out of the corner? And how long will this take? We have to be home before it gets dark, Mrs. mom told us to."

"It'll take less time if you stop being so paranoid and scared all the time."

"Between the little green gremlin that attacked my girlfriend, a possessed pedant and aggressive, thieving thugs, I'm allowed to be spooked."

"You gotta look on the brighter side of things like you usually do. Nothing has changed, everything is still the same. Besides, we had way worse things happen before." As if a couple of thugs could scare them.

"Do you even know where they put the trophy after they took it?"

"Hmm. Probably in a most visible place of the school. They will be showing it off. The main lobby. That's where we will look first. If it's not there, we have around an hour before it gets completely dark."

When the group of kids found the school, Gumball panicked. Principal Brown's car was parked nearby. One peek through the car windows told them that he wasn't in the vehicle. They were late! "We gotta move, now. And quietly. Try to keep up." Gumball scurried off quickly and the rest of his classmates went after him.

They stayed clear from Franklin dormitory building. Why would a public high school need one was beyond their understanding. Going around the main building, the children looked for a good spot to get in. Most of them, tried several windows. "I don't get it, why can't we just try the main door?"

"You crazy? I don't wanna get ripped up and I think you wouldn't like to be eaten." Clayton said while his eyes zipped to the sides anxiously while looking for anything bad that might lurk in the darkness.

Eventually, Tobias had found one window that wasn't locked.

"Phase one, complete." Gumball pronounced victoriously after everyone climbed in. For a school full of street thugs, bullies and mega jerks, the interior was pretty normal. Although, it was dark inside. The school wasn't positioned so well and the only natural light source came from the end of the hallway where the main entrance was. Which was their destination. Gumball simply didn't want to go through the main door. They would be seen immediately.

When they silently made their way to the lobby of the school, to the dismay of everyone, there was nothing there. Certainly no display case with trophies. "Well, there's nothing here. Time to go home." Darwin whispered to his brother. He was in a hurry to get out here. The dark corridors gave him the creeps.

"No way. There's three floors in total. We're checking every single one. It won't take long." Gumball responded heatedly. The infiltration was a success, might as well carry it out till the end. No backing off, no desertion on his watch.

"I'm not sure about that. This place is huge." Anton said in a quiet tone. For a little guy like him, it would take hours to search the whole school.

"Then split up into pairs. And again, try to be as quiet as possible. Darwin, you come with me.."

Anton and Tobias were first to head off and search the rest of the first floor. Gumball, Darwin, Molly and Clayton headed straight for the stairs ascending into the second floor, where the biped dinosaur and the red ball of clay split off to search the second floor.

Gumball and Darwin headed for the third floor. The cat smiled to himself. Logically, the top floor usually houses the objective. Exactly like in all of those games and movies. Fight your way to the top for victory, become the hero. Or to meet a dangerous final boss and bite the bullet. He hoped that the latter will not be the case with this mission.

* * *

Molly, with Clayton in the lead, sneaked in the corridors. The menacing red lockers cast looming shadows on the ground. Clayton felt himself starting to sweat as he bounced forward. At least he had Molly behind himself for company. Alone, he probably couldn't have gone two feet into the second floor before transforming into a rocket and flying out of the school.

One glance told him that Molly was absolutely enjoying herself. It was like she was taking a fun tour in a new and exciting place. All the colorful posters lining the walls caught her attention.

One of such posters had many words on it. So she stopped to read it. By the time she was done, her friend was nowhere to be seen. "Clayton?" She called out in a whisper. "Clayton! Where are you?" She called again, a little louder, but no one answered.

This wasn't good. Getting separated upset the girl. What if her friend was getting scared without her? She had to find him. Wandering the halls, Molly quietly kept calling his name. Rounding a corner, Clayton's name caught in her throat when the sauropod saw that one of the wooden doors had light coming from underneath it. When she crept closer to it, a metal plate on the wall became visible. It was the principal's office. Two shadows were cast from beneath the door as voices were coming from the office.

Molly inched closer to hear what was being said. Close enough to discern that the shadows moved as the people inside spoke. "Look, all I'm saying is that as a school principal, you shouldn't endorse this kind of behavior." It was Mr. Brown! Evidently, in the middle of a conversation with someone.

"I'm not endorsing anything. Those children are free spirits. Besides, it is out of my jurisdiction to control what they are doing outside of the school grounds." The second voice was calm, charming, caring in a way that it calmed the very soul.

"Contact their parents then! Alert them of their children's terrible behavior!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that either. Living in the school's dormitory puts one outside of the parent's control. Besides, they're not destroying our school property or fighting on the school grounds. There isn't much I can do."

"Much you can't do..! You're allowing this, aren't you?" There was a pause after the unsure accusal from the brown furred principal. "You're letting them do as they please with no consequences for their shameful behavior!" His tone grew more outraged with each spoken word.

"That's a pretty big accusation. I'm not sure I like that." The secondary voice dropped in volume, suddenly growing foreign and cold.

"I will be forced to contact Department of Education and report your inappropriate oversight of the students."

"You will not be reporting anything."

"And why is that?"

The shadow of the second person began to shake and bubble out like someone was blowing up multiple balloons inside of it. It popped followed by a splash, as if someone spilled a bucket of water.

Molly backed off the door in horror as tears welled up in her eyes. Her imagination created an image of what happened in there. It made her sick to the point of having to cover her mouth and try to keep the bile down.

Thin tendrils blended in with the second shadow. Strangled guttural noise followed, coming from the Elmore's principal. "Because you don't want me on your bad side, Brown!"

Molly turned and ran for it, the fear making the heavy girl forget that she was supposed to be quiet. She sprinted down the corridor as fast as her stumpy legs let her. The tears in Molly's eyes blurred her vision and the girl didn't see where she was going, but her primal instincts told her she had to keep running. Get away before whatever monstrosity behind that door comes out to find her.

She tripped over something soft and squishy. The one responsible for her fall elicited a muffled yelp. Molly painfully planted on the corridor floor. When she turned over and was about to shriek for help, she saw that her terrifying assailant wasn't that large. In fact, it was Clayton. Except, his face was comically smushed in. It quickly re-inflated back to normal.

The ball of clay grew arms and covered his face out of fear, "Please don't hurt me!"

"A…wha...I…" Molly stammered to get the words rolling, still dazed after the sudden fall. They need to run and get away from here as soon as possible!

Clayton peeked through his fingers and calmed down when he found it was just his classmate that tripped over him. "Molly! Where have you been? I've been looking for you all over! Whoa. What happened? You okay?" He asked when he saw how shaken the sauropod was.

Molly sniffled and nodded vigorously. Clayton helped the bigger girl get up. "Yeah, but we need to get out of here. I saw something scary."

Clayton was about to ask what she meant by that. But he got interrupted. Out of the shadows cast by the lockers, a yellow light appeared, as if someone pointed a flashlight at them. The source of the light was star shaped. Two big reptilian arms with red scales and thorns descended on the frightened students.

* * *

Gumball, along with his brother, had checked two corridors so far. They haven't even gone further into the school. Anton was right, this place is huge. However, the athro cat wasn't going to quit just yet. He felt that he was really close to their goal. Exactly like in all of those games. The prize room was close, his instincts told him so. Just a few more corridors and they will find the treasure room along with the prize.

The floor grew distant beneath the cat's paws all of a sudden. A gasp of surprise came from Darwin. His brother hung in the air! Out of the shadows, came out a large being of some kind. Wooden clicks marked his steps against the floor.

"Ay, lookie what I caught. A blue cockroach!" Voice devoid of any intelligence laughed and shook Gumball around like a toy by the scruff of his sweater. A big and buff scarecrow they met in the dark alleyway a few days ago. The very same one with a red west and red straw hat. Jason was his name.

"Put him down, you overgrown horse food!" Darwin tried kicking the buffoon, but only earned himself a stinging foot when hit against the wooden logs that were the scarecrow's shins.

Another ghost of the past came to haunt them. It was the same big hawk, tall as Jason, the tips of his feathers and his beak, covered in metal. Again, he was present during the night outing when him, Anais, Gumball and Carrie were brawing that wretched alleyway. His name was Chris.

The hawk's leg crashed on top Darwin, forcing the little fish on the ground. Razor sharp talons were held inches away from his puffy cheeks to intimidate him from squirming. "You better calm down, cutie. I just got off eating fish for dinner. Wouldn't wanna pick up the habit again." His threat scared Darwin into submission along with the dagger like claws near his face.

The muscular scarecrows giggling finally died down as he grew bored of playing with Gumball like a toy. "What do we do with 'em, Chris?"

"What the boss told us. Down to the lobby."

* * *

How could people of that size sneak up on them was impossible to explain. Gumball felt embarrassed for getting caught. Once Jason carried Gumball to the lobby of the school, followed by Chris who dragged Darwin, he found that they weren't the only ones. Everyone got captured.

There was Anton and Tobias, arms locked behind their backs, by two purple students with red tank tops, no eyes, only large mouths. One was tall and lean, pure muscle, Winston

The other one was short, with a flatter head and large ears. Winston's little brother, Craig.

Then there was a real monster waiting at the foot of the stairs along with the other four students. Taller than the purple ones, covered in all shades of red scales with occasional scale having a thorn or two, reptilian in nature. Bone pikes protruded from his upper back and head. A bone plate covered his mouth and nose, with a star shaped eye that glowed like a lamp in the middle of his face. In his big hands he held Clayton, the child looked to be sick and sweaty. Draped over his shoulder and much in the same sick condition was Molly. They both looked barely conscious.

Tobias was silently whimpering. They got caught and stood near one of the most frightening people he knew. That right there, red and spiky, was Virus. A truly dangerous guy, earning his reputation from his violence on the football field and the ability to cause fever to anyone who gets poked by his thorns or spikes. Tobias saw what this guy was like during the night of the game, and he tried his best to remain silent and obedient.

Gumball on other other hand felt embarrassed beyond belief. They got picked up like trash without nothing to show for. He couldn't even bear to look at his friends right now. Question was, what will happen to them now that they have been caught by these teenagers?

Chris, along with his subordinate finally reached the end of the stairs and joined the other Franklin students. "Is that all of them?" The hawk squawked.

Big earned and eyeless kid, Craig, nodded, "Yeah, I can't hear anyone else."

"And where the boss is?" Jason croaked dumbly.

Boss? Gumball thought the big red monster was calling the shots here. If the big and spiky isn't in charge, then what sort of demonic spawn is?

"Hey, would you look at that. All apprehended, good job, guys!" Someone laughed from atop the staircase. Everyone turned around to see the supposed leader make an appearance.

Walk down the staircase, was another young student. Similarities between him and Gumball were uncanny. From the head shape, to the way he held himself. Even his style of clothing, black jeans instead of blue, neon green sweater instead of brown, no shoes either. If it weren't for his black vest with a hood and his height, he would've looked like Gumball, only instead of a cat, a fox.

"Names Benjamin." The fox student introduced himself. Gumball thought he recognized him from somewhere, but just couldn't remember from where.

But his classmate Tobias did. Standing before them was the captain of Franklin's football team. Last he heard, a recently appointed one, only two months prior to the finale of the game.

Benjamin stopped short before his subordinates. He inspected each Elmore student in their possession. His critical gaze lingered on Gumball and Molly before he smirked and said, "They're harmless. Drop them."

Every monster did as told. Gumball landed on his rear painfully and was helped up by his brother.

"I have to say, I was worried for a moment that we're going to have a brawl here. I thought it was that bomb guy and his pals coming to get vengeance for his lost turf." The fox stated with a wavering grin and snapped his fingers. Several more students appeared seemingly out of the blue, all dressed in red. "We even set a welcoming committee. I have to say, this day is more disappointing than I thought."

"Hey, don't that kid look like you, Benji?" Jason pointed his finger at the blue cat.

"Yeah, yeah. He does. Wow!" Benjamin noted how similar they looked. Of course, he knew of their similarities long before they met. "Heh, I guess every school needs it's cool leader, am I right? Well, maybe you're not that great as I thought." He glanced at the watch on his wrist, then back at the cat and his adopted brother. "Seventeen minutes inside the school and you're already face down in the ground. Hah! Lame."

"How did you even know we will-" Gumball began but was cut off by the fox doppelganger.

"It's easy to track stupidity." Benjamin quipped back. Gumball's ears flattened against his skull as a snarl crept on his lips. That smug look on the foxe's face made him feel angered. "So much for being cool, eh?"

Benjamin walked around them, arms crossed behind his back, "Anyways, why have you come here?"

Gumball sighed. For a smart guy, he sure didn't seem to know a lot. "We came here to-"

"Get back the trophy-" Benjamin completed.

"So that you could-"

"-no longer humiliate us." Benjamin completed his sentence again, making Gumball even more frustrated. The fox yawned out of boredom, "Predictable. You're not getting it back. It belongs to us, the stronger school. There's nothing you can do to make us give it to you."

"Why were you even hanging around the school after it's closed?" Darwin asked curiously.

"Well, we saw the arrival of your principal. If he causes us some major problems we...well, Fabian!" He hollered for one of the students on standby outside of the main group. "Show 'em."

Fabian transformed. Into principal Brown! Clearing his throat, the changed Fabian said, "No running in the hallway, kids!" One couldn't even tell the voices apart, it was spot on impression.

"Oh, the guy's a natural or what? Perfect actor and a place fill in, incase someone goes missing. Don't you think?" Benjamin explained with smug smirk and a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Gumball pointed his finger at the fox, "You're insane."

"We gotta protect our interests in any way we can." Benjamin replied simply. He then glanced at his underlings, "Virus, let's show 'em the door. They're not worth our time. Too bad the janitor is out, we have to do his job."

As Gumball and his friends were getting dragged towards the double doors leading outside, the cat was frustrated to the point of opening his mouth to try and call him out, "You think you're so great just because some buffoons follow every word you say?"

"Without a doubt." Benjamin stated with confidence. "I could list several reasons. Like, how handsome I am. How popular I am. How smarter I am. How great of a leader I am. Last part is supported by the fact that I am leading you to the exit right now and you're too scared to do anything. Not that you could do anything against me. I'm a black belt in karate."

They came to the double doors of the school entrance. "So yeah, I am great, with or without by friends backing me up. Unlike you, who has weakling friends and none of the qualities that make me great." Benjamin finished with the same, unchanged smugness on his snout.

Gumball grit his teeth out of anger as he was flung out the door. His brother went next. Tobias begged not to be thrown, but Winston didn't listen and threw him out, harder than necessary. Everyone else followed, except for Molly. The fox stopped Virus short after the monster sent Clayton flying.

"Hey." Benjamin addressed at the sauropod sharply. "Better not make a peep about what you saw between our principals." He warned her with intensity in his eyes that promised pain.

The frightened and sickly dinosaur made a noise of acknowledgement. Virus took the heavy girl off his shoulder like an empty bag of air and prepared to throw her out as well.

"Oh yeah. I know. I know a lot. I have eyes and ears everywhere." Was Benjamin's parting whisper to her. "If you squeak, you'll go missing really quickly."

After the girl was flung outside, Benjamin grabbed the door handles and shouted a warning for the future, "I should probably mention that if you come back here one more time, ya'll will leave on a stretcher." The athro fox closed the doors shut and exhaled through his nose.

That encounter was, interesting. It showed him that he had nothing to worry about in regards to the two racially diverse kids he heard so much about. The brothers looked like they didn't even know how to tie their shoe laces. Much less pose a problem to him. Although, just to be safe…

"Put extra security around the dormitory. Rotating shifts. Don't let anyone near the building." Benjamin whispered to Virus in a low and cold tone. The looming monstrosity nodded. They can comb the school and get the trophy for all he cares. The worthless scrap-metal was taken just to assert their dominance, to make Elmore and it's students feel weak and broken. But going to the dormitory, is out of the question.

"And order more rats to hit the streets." Obviously, they still don't know who owns this town. But that is going to change after tonight.

* * *

Tobias groaned in pain as he sat up, he landed near the street, a good distance away from the rest of his classmates. And just in time to see Molly flying in an arc, straight towards him. "Oh no." He paled and scrambled to get out of the way. He was too late.

At least he softened her landing.

After the kids picked themselves off the ground, everyone wordlessly agreed to head home. The Monday had dragged on enough as it is. They felt lucky to have gotten out of that disaster unhurt. Although embarrassed that they were handled so easily, at least they were fine.

Anton nudged his friend made of clay, "Hey, you alright?" Him and Molly looked terrible when they ended up in Viruses claws.

"Yeah, it's wearing off after he let go." Clayton reassured him. His fever had finally begun to drop. Molly too, felt more stable on her legs after Virus released her. It seemed the monster's effect didn't last long. She felt all the better after putting distance between herself and that scary place.

No one poked fun at each other after what happened nor did anyone blame the others. It was unanimously agreed that the kids couldn't do anything. So their walk was silent as they wallowed in their own pity and embarrassment. Gumball was stomping ahead of them, one could see visible steam rising off his head.

"Hey, bro. How are you doing?" Darwin asked when walking side to side with his sibling.

Gumball didn't answer him. When the fish was about to ask again, the cat stopped in his tracks. "We need help. Someone who can floor them. Who can grind them into dust." He said with an aggressive snarl while smacking his fists together.

The children shared questioning looks with one and other. Was there anyone in their school like that? Anyone crazy enough to take on an entire school of dangerous teenagers and actually come out on top?

"Gumball, you're thinking with angries here. There's no one who can do that! Didn't you see those guys?" Darwin reasoned, which sounded more like a plea to stop this charade. He was getting tired and just wanted to head home already.

"Oh no, there is one…" Gumball smirked mysteriously. Yes, the one he had in mind would easily school those jerks and show them who's boss. "C'mon, we're going to go see her now. Hopefully, she's in a good mood. Also, Darwin, you're in charge of getting her on our side."

* * *

The rag-tag group of friends had come a particularly quiet and nice neighborhood. No one would ever stop to think that in one of these nice and colorful houses, lived one of the most scariest kids in Elmore junior high. Second one would probably be the t-rex Tina. Darwin looked over his shoulder, his friends nodded. The fish knocked on the door of Russos residence.

The door flew open with a whoosh. In the doorway stood the short and frowning troglodyte girl. At least it wasn't coach Russo that answered them.

After exchanging awkward hellos, Darwin had told her the story of what happened today, and the following was her reaction. "Forget it, dweebs." Jamie grunted and slammed the door in Gumball's face. The entire door frame rattled.

"That didn't work." Anton pointed out the obvious with a sad sigh.

"Dude, seriously, you're not helping." Tobias retorted.

The sun was close to setting, the orange skies were turning darker by the moment. Soon, all of them will have to go home. After all, it's a school night too. Hope to recover the trophy was getting drained along with the sunlight. But not everyone was willing to give up just yet.

"Who else out of the people we know could help us out?" Clayton asked his friends. The children paused, deep in thought. There aren't people that could combat multiple, dangerous, hormonal teenagers hellbent on dishing out pain.

"Neal?" Molly suggested after a lengthy pause. "Didn't he get into a fight with that upperclassmen and got out unhurt?" Not only that, but after their performance during Friday's finale game, he stood his ground against four older and much scarier students that bothered her cheerleading squad.

Everyone else pondered on her suggestion. Molly was right. Pretty much everyone saw the fight. Although their memory of that was pretty hazy after tonight's event, it was still a display of strength and willingness to raise one's hand. Just exactly what they needed.

"Oh no." Gumball face palmed and groaned. Not the balloon again. Not the Pudding again. "You're kidding me, right? Pudding? The same carbon copy of Alan? Last I heard, he didn't even fight Julius. Just danced around him like a monkey and then Ms. Simian dragged him off to detention."

"You have any other suggestions?" Tobias inquired. "Because we could go see Tina, but I ain't going nowhere near that junkyard, or her father." He wasn't that brave. No one is amongst them.

Gumball crossed his arms on his chest and grumbled, "I would much rather go and risk getting eaten by Tina than visit Alan."

"That's too bad. We're going to see Alan." The sportsband wearing kid assured his standing. The kids nodded and went after him. "You coming?"

"It's either that, or going home, Gumball. Besides, this was mostly your idea." Darwin said to his brother. The blue cat sighed in defeat. Fine. He can deal with Alan and Pudding for a few days. If it meant that he will get the trophy and end the bullying of everyone else in the school and town.

* * *

White cloth wrappings fell on the bathroom sink. They had red stains on them. Each knuckle had finally healed. Not completely, but now he doesn't need to wear gloves anymore. The remaining scrapes will seal up completely within a few days without medical assistance. While the short blonde was checking himself over, he heard a dull knock come from downstairs. He stopped his check up and listened intently. They had guests, lots of them.

When he deposited his bandages in the garbage bin, the bathroom door gently pushed open. It was a young balloon's voice that called for him, "Hey! Can you come down for a minute? There's someone here to see you."

* * *

Alan offered everyone to sit, which they did, all of them fit on his couch. Facing the couch and the table separating the two was an armchair which the human took a seat in. The balloon floated down to rest on his shoulder.

Neal leaned his back against the back support and placed his legs on the table. He very slowly scanned his classmates that had gathered in Alan's living room. Gumball had the biggest displeased look on his face. Obviously, it irked him quite a bit that he sat in Alan's residence. "What do you want?" The teen finally asked, not hiding his animosity with that gravelly and commanding voice.

They were surprised by the way he addressed them. Then again, the kids knew little of their human classmate. Mostly just him being a slow thinking smiling idiot with a runny nose. At least that's how Gumball and Darwin knew him from few interactions they had. Others had a similar impression, minus Molly who already saw how different he can be. That straight faced expressionless mask of his was offsetting to say the least.

Darwin cleared his throat. "Hey, Neal. We...ugh..you look great by the way. We were in the area and-"

The human narrowed his cold blue eyes, "Get to the point." He demanded with a quick and professional quip.

The orange fish got caught off guard, but quickly recovered. "Ah…right. I suppose I'll begin from the start." And Darwin did. He told the two everything, while others occasionally added a small detail to his retelling of the Monday's events. Gumball tried to silence his brother on few occasions when he mentioned the blue cat's decisions during their outing. The balloon changed between concerned and sad while sometimes asking them a question or two. Neal remained as cold, indifferent and silent.

"And now we're here." Darwin concluded. He retold the tale in the exact same way to Jamie and the girl slammed the door in their faces. He considered Neal's lack of talking as a good sign. "Which brings me to my point. Would be willing to lend us a hand in our-" He struggled to find the words for it, "-future attempts to combat those jerks and get the trophy back?"

Alan glanced at his friend, waiting for his answer. Lots of expectant eyes were on him. Save for Gumball, who found the small hole in his jeans more interesting than begging for assistance from Alan's buddy. The silence stretched on, and they began to wonder if the human even listened to them.

"Now, you said you went there already and got caught?" The human asked indifferently. Darwin breathed a sigh of relief. So he did listen. Good, step on, achieved. Step two, get him on board with them.

"Yeah?" Tobias answered Neal's question.

"Congratulations. You made the situation worse."

"How did we make it worse, exactly?" Clayton replied to his statement. "I think we showed them our staggering battle spirit. However small it may be…"

"Yeah. So did your football team and guess what? The school still got robbed, vandalism is still a thing, and to top it all off, even more places are getting dangerous due to Franklin thugs patrolling them." The human worded out everything that's wrong with the city at the moment. "You can multiply the latter by two after tonight."

"So, does that mean you're on board with us?" What Darwin truly wanted to say was: will you let yourself be bossed around by Gumball and his occasionally good ideas?

"Ha..hahah...HAHAHAAA!" Ironic how those that laughed at him were now getting laughed at by him. The cruelty of his laugh made everyone look at him in worry. Neal finally got ahold of himself and said, "You need my help? Are you...how stupid are you?"

"Why are you such a massive jerk all of a sudden?" Gumball finally joined the conversation with equal amounts of sourness lacing his tone.

"I was being nice with you before, assclowns. Look where that got me." Neal flung his phone on the table and it spun to a stop, perfectly in front of them. The night when he was sick and went out into town to get supplies for curing his cold. That's when Franklin students got ahold of him and turned him into a city-wide laughing stock for days. The picture on his phone from Elmore Plus were displaying the aftermath.

Darwin scratched his head awkwardly. Right, he knew he forgot something. That has happened. Gumball just shrugged. "Meh, it happens. Grow up." He said to the human.

"Is that so?" Neal asked sarcastically and leaned his seat again. "Tell me, why should I help you?"

Darwin shushed his brother and answered Neal, "Because, you will suffer too if you don't? It's like a…ugh, collective effort to stop a greater evil."

"You think I can't beat down bunch of meatheads who don't know squat about martial arts?" He asked with sarcasm again. A confident grin grew on his lips as he said, "I could do it solo with my hands tied a **railing**."

"You know, similar to the way that I was tied down on Thursday, in front of the school, when all of you stood and laughed at me with crap eating grins."

The kids faces contorted to looks of surprise and realization. They remember, but didn't say anything. And their classmate, smiled. He was enjoying this a lot. And he planned to kick them while they're down with no mercy. "Oh yeah, don't think I forgot anything. Where was my help when I desperately needed it? Where was my support from my 'friends' when the entire town laughed at me?"

Everyone except for Gumball stared at the floor, refusing to meet his gaze out of shame. He took their silence as a cue to continue.

"You don't deserve my help. You're all crappy people who only think of themselves."

To get shamed by Pudding of all people. Twice in a row, Gumball was getting humiliated and he despised it.

"So I'm going to do the same. Your childish powell doesn't concern me. Your little problems are irrelevant to me. So how about you gather your IQ points that you just barfed all over me, and get the hell out of here." Getting the trophy will accomplish nothing, nor will it stop the bullying. Nothing short of absolute violence will make Franklin stop with the nasty behavior. Neal knew that. Perhaps there existed another leading factor. Although, he didn't care nearly enough to find it out.

Neal sighed after his rant. He felt better. The human spoke once more, "Eye for an eye-"

"-and the world goes blind." Alan added with a hint of sadness.

"Exactly." The human agreed with a stoic look.

Gumball heard everything he needed to hear. Choosing to be the bigger man and not start an argument, he hopped off the couch and went for the door. "Let's go, guys." The rest of the class followed close by, their heads hung low.

"Let the door hit you on your way out! I'll find it hilarious!" Neal put salt on the injury.

Gumball's face turned beet red from anger, but he stuffed it down and closed the door politely.

Neal guessed it was too much to ask for a simple 'sorry' from the lot of them. He stretched his arms and back with satisfaction. The visit was unexpected, but very welcoming. Finally he got some things off his chest. He got what he wanted.

Alan floated off his shoulder to face him, "Are you sure you couldn't…I dunno, play along?"

"Why? To get dragged down whatever insanity they have planned?" The boy asked in return. As if he would let himself be bossed around by that cat. "Franklin will not stop even if they get the trophy back, that much is obvious."

"Then, what must be done? Oh! Perhaps free hugs? Help them with their homework? Maybe that's why they're so aggressive all the time, studying can be stressful and…"

Neal tuned Alan out as he wondered just why a school of teens and children would be causing so much trouble across the entire town. It just didn't make sense. Matter of fact, why aren't the authorities stepping in to resolve this widespread problem? Surely the police could discipline that battalion of gangster wannabes. Although, he remembered that the police in this city are a bunch of junk food on legs. The only patrolling cop in the area is a pink donut. Neal saw him stuff his face with snacks and let multiple speeding cars go unpunished. Absolute incompetence.

"Neal? Neal? Neal!?"

The human blinked a few times, being dragged out of his thoughts by his roommate. "What?"

"I asked if we should try that?"

"Try what?"

"Start a public intervention club for troubled kids and teenagers." Alan repeated his impromptu idea to the human with a cheery smile. "Think about it! We volunteer to make one, then we address all the issues that these Franklin kids seem to be having!"

Neal chuckled lightly. Not a bad plan. Alan's heart is certainly in the right place. However, the reality is a little more difficult. "That's ridiculous. I like the positivity and the pacifism message here, but it won't work."

"Why not? If we get more people on board and try really hard, we could clear out all the vandalism and bullying within those people." The balloon flew to the couch and sat down. He used his string to turn on the TV for his showtime. The news was currently on. "I know Carmen would join us by default."

Neal winced at the mention of the cacti girl. A real smart mouth that one. Thinks she must have the last say in anything and everything. He disliked her because of it, but remained silent about it because of Alan. "You can try. But count me out."

The balloon whined, "Awh! Why?"

"I'm not good with things like that." Neal said upon standing from his seat. He still had his homework to do, and the nighttime was already here. At least he helped Teri with her's. It was worth it to see the girl so happy and actually, relaxed.

"..._the crime percentage has been rising in Elmore's industrial and commercial districts for the last month. Petty theft, acts of mindless vandalism and even assault. Reports say that the crimes are mostly carried out by minors below the age of seventeen…" _

"And the good news just keep coming." Neal turned his attention to the news report. Strange. Again, something didn't make sense. "Industrial areas? Like the place with factories and stuff? Shouldn't it be suburbs instead? The hell they're doing in a place like that…"

"More places to draw their graffiti?" Alan suggested, his eyes set on TV too.

"..._outraged citizens have taken their grievances to Elmore PD and even the city hall where it is being demanded that every student body in the city would be placed under juvenile curfew time. A demand which received negative response from the city mayor who stated that more concrete evidence has to be presented before such a law could be passed…_"

"Mayor needs more evidence...what! Evidence is all over the place. And what's that crap about _every student body? _It's damn obvious that Franklin is responsible for all that crime. The hell they're blaming everyone else for?" Neal couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was the government that dumb in this country?

"So, about that intervention club…" Alan began after the news report was concluded and a commercial rolled.

Neal shook his head in response, "I'm going to go do my homework."

"After you're done, perhaps we can watch a movie together?" Alan asked. Neal replied with a nod and went upstairs to lock himself away from everyone for an hour. Finally, Alan thought to himself with a smile, finally the boy is warming up to him.

* * *

It was already dark outside and all the kids went their separate ways. Darwin trudged along the sidewalk, tired physically, exhausted emotionally. What roller-coaster of a ride this was.

His brother however, didn't look sleepy at all. Matter of fact, he was running on bubbling frustration fuel. His pride hurt more than he thought due to Neal's words and the events of today going on in his mind on loop, and he couldn't pause them.

So much could've been said, and there was so much he could've done differently. Now that the cat thought about it, it only served to strengthen his frustration in himself. What a fool he was to spearhead that school of monsters with just a few classmates and haphazardly thrown together plan. Improvisation didn't work and actually backfired on him in the most grandiose way possible. Now he knew that improvising and going with his gut feeling won't work.

"Well, everything that should've gone well today ended up going wrong." Darwin summarized his brothers thoughts in one go. "But that's fine. We'll sleep it off and start anew tomorrow, right bro?"

"You're right. We failed today, but tomorrow, we will come up with an actual plan of attack and show them who's truly in charge here."

"What! No!" Darwin replied with a shout. "What I meant by starting anew is forgetting all of this and carrying on with our lives!" The fish elaborated quickly. He hoped that Gumball will actually listen to him this time. "Didn't you see them? Even your look alike copy, they're all out of our league. If we got someone like Jamie or Tina on our side to protect us, I would say: sure! Let's go and stop them from being jerks to everyone. But now, even Pu..Neal won't help us. We're outmatched, Gumball. Let's drop this and just wait for the entire thing to blow over."

They walked in silence for a few minutes. The anthropomorphic cat considered everything his brother had said. Which suspiciously sounded like he wanted to give up. And he doesn't blame him. His brother and his friends evidently lost their faith in him when the odds turned against them. "So, you think getting back the trophy is impossible for us?"

"Well, yeah. Didn't you hear what I said? We can't beat those monsters. That's my point." Darwin had to use his brain to explain the following, "We couldn't hold them off for long enough to search the entire school and get out in time. And even if we did, someone would definitely get hurt and I don't want that weighing on our heads. Time to call it quits, Gumball."

"After one failure? You really don't trust me that much?"

"Well, no I-"

"We're not quitting. Not when we learned so much."

"C'mon, you don't have to have the last laugh in everything." Darwin argued more than pleaded. The way Gumball was acting seemed outright childish.

"No! I will not stand for this, gosh darn it! That bag of fur thinks he's the best thing to walk the earth since Einstein! I'm going to prove him wrong!"

"Oh, so that's why…" Darwin finally understood why his brother cared so much. His ego has been hurt by Benjamin, maybe even made him a little insecure. He probably wants to prove himself to be his superior, but to who, the fish didn't know. Penny doesn't know of what happened today, so that ruled her out. Gumball knew that Darwin will always think only the best about his brother, which put him out of the list too. Perhaps he wants to prove his greatness to himself?

"And don't get me started on Alan and Pudding! He's not gonna help us because he knows we need him and he just…ugh! That guy! I hate him! No wonder he lives with Alan. Both of them are so infuriating. One is so perfect that his perfection blinds other people's goodwill, and the other one is broken to the point of making others angry!" Gumball ranted on while walking.

"But that doesn't matter. We will pull this off no matter what. In fact, it's good that the Franklin high school is so feared! That'll make us stronger! By the end of this, when everyone praises us for our amazing achievement of taking down the thing that everyone fears, those two cowards will wish they hadn't refused to help us out!"

"Alan didn't refuse, you just didn't ask him. Neal did." Darwin interjected. He definitely wanted to exclude the balloon from the roster no matter what.

"Doesn't matter. Point is, we're far from done. If that Benjamin or whatever his name is wants to play. We will play. Hard!" Gumball announced with flaring confidence.

"Fine. You know I have your back. But, you should talk about your plans of action prior to carrying them out. Don't leave me out in the dark."

"Yeah, noted."

They finally came home. Two kids went inside to be greeted with the all familiar sound of TV and their dad sitting on the couch, surrounded in snacks and soda. It felt nice to be home after a long day. Their sister, Anais, occupied the kitchen table with her books and homework. Their mother was nowhere to be seen, yet. She was probably working late again.

"Man! I'm hungry! What's for dinner, Mr. Dad?" Darwin asked upon entering entering the living room.

"Whatever you can find in the fridge." Richard responded lazily, already half asleep on the couch.

"Hmm. Another scavenging dinner. You coming, Gumball?" Darwin asked. He saw that his brother was rushing up the staircase.

"Nope, I'll eat later." Gumball replied loudly and shut the door of his room. He had to start throwing together a plan to take down Franklin high school.

First order of business, he needs more people for this. Way more people. Alan and Pudding are out of the game, as well as Tina and Jamie. Gumball jumped on the revolving chair, pulled himself to the desk and his computer. Online is where he will find most of his troops. Which, unfortunately, will be his classmates. Mostly because the cat didn't interact with other students outside his class.

Elmore Plus was launched and he checked people that were online. Penny was on! Splendid! She can transform! The girl won't be in danger at all. It's everyone else that will be in danger after she turns into a massive, fire spitting dragon!

"_hey!" _

The cat didn't have to wait long to get a response from his girlfriend. _"Hi, Gumball! What's up?" _

"_a lot. listen, i wanted to ask, are you busy tomorrow?" _

"_Yeah, unfortunately, I am. Why? Did you want to go on a date?" _

_"not…quite. but somthing along those lines. how do you feel about burning a bunch of jerks down to charcoal?" _

_"Honestly? Not that hot. I still can't control my transformation fully."_

_"nonsense. all you need is some fiery action to develop your skill."_

_"I think I might burn out before the action starts."_

_"i could help you stroke the fire so that it wouldnt happen! _

_"Right, with your smouldering passion no doubt." _

_"you know it!" _

_"Did you message me just to string me along for one of your crazy silly adventures?" _

"_not at all! i also wanted to tell you that I'm burning to see you as soon as possible."_

_"No, we're not punning-off anymore."_

_"sorry. but yeah thats the idea i was going to present to you."_

_"The answer is no. I can't control the transformations fully. And! I'm not burning anyone that you dislike."_

_"alright. no problem then. see you tomorrow?" _

_"Absolutely. Have a good night, Gumball. ^-^" _

"_good night, Penny_."

At least she will not be present to see him fail again. The cat shook his head out of the sudden self depreciation that he seemed to be experiencing. Gumball was sure he could put together a plan that will not involve Penny flying around and burning Franklin jerks down to nothing.

He messaged everyone else who was online. Tobias was down for another retry. Molly refused immediately. Banana Joe sent him a picture of thumbs up, he was in. Ocho agreed to tag along. Clayton was willing to try again if Gumball has an actual plan this time, which he promised that he will. Leslie said he'll think about it. Masami ignored his message. Anton was in. Carmen said that violence shouldn't be an option and warned them not to mess with her old school. Bobert sent him a bunch of binary code. Colin and Felix called him an idiot. Teri said she'll think about it too. Sarah refused. Juke joined him. Carrie was coming only because of the violence that might ensue.

Sussie, Idaho and William don't have an Elmore Plus account. Not that he was going to include them anyways. They would probably mess up his plan if they came along.

By the time he was done messaging everyone, his mother had come home. He was called down for dinner, after which, bed time. At the very least, Gumball had more people to work with now. Way more than before. He will still have to talk with the ones who refused his messages, or the ones he wasn't sure are joining, like Bobert, or Felix and Colin. When the recruitment is fully complete, he will set to work on an actual plan of attack that will surely help him and his friends pull out a victory against those darned bullies.

-End of chapter 15-

* * *

Authors note:

Now! Message to everyone who likes my fiction!

In the previous chapter, I talked about a written project of mine. I'm putting maximum effort into it. Notes and details all over the place kind of effort. I can say with confidence that it's the best thing I've ever made in my entire life.

Unfortunately, ya'll ain't gonna get a link until I write and upload at least four chapters of it. Luckily, I already got three out, so by the next update of this story, I should have even more of them out. I will feature a link to it on the next chapter. **SO GET HYPED EVERYONE! GET TRULY HYPED!**

To give you some hints, it'll be a fantasy/romance story. Violence, epic fights, love on the field, you name it. Best written work of mine, baby! And I'm in it for the long run with that story, which will continue even after this fanfiction is over.

And this fanfic? Don't worry about it. We're just getting started. :^)


	16. Chapter 16

One more class and he will be home free. Neal was bored. So bored that he decided to go bother Teri with affection.

School library, as always, towards the end of the day, was devoid of people. And as expected, there she was, hidden by a mass of books, diligently doing homework.

"Hey, precious. Need assistance?" Neal dropped in without so much as a notice. Pulled up a chair to her table and joined her ever painful endeavor.

"Again?" Teri asked, slightly surprised, but still happy nonetheless. "I thought yesterday was a one time thing. Don't you have your own homework to do?"

Neal nodded, "I do. And I will do it, after we're done with this mountain of hell. So, what's the stitch here?"

And he was sticking by what he said, already flipping through her notes and taking out a pen. Quite persistent, the paper bear thought. She wondered just for how long he can keep this up. At least she will have less work at home. "Math."

The accursed witchcraft of numbers and equations. His least proficient class. "...anything else?" He asked hopefully.

"English. Geography. Chemistry." She answered without lifting her tired eyes from the notebooks.

"Now chemistry, I can help with." Neal knew a ton about chemical stuff. Reactions, components, elements. It's like alchemy, except more numerical and less applicable in real life. "I've actually made a bar of dynamite from heart medicine and pesticide. I still have a scar on my butt."

"That's what happens when you play with explosives. Dummy." Teri replied with a grin. Clearly a made up story, but it's funny nonetheless.

"I think the word you're looking for is 'genius', but I'll let it pass." Neal bantered in a whimsical manner.

And so the last period was spent on doing homework. During which, the kids made some small talk happen. Mainly the human, who was trying to determine Teri's sense of humor. It was, for better or worse, dry as paper.

"Well, you're easily amused." Neal said with a big smile after cracking a terrible pencil pun and making the girl break out into giggles.

"Bad puns are the best." Teri spoke while trying to stifle her laugh.

"Yeah, they 'write' themselves." The boy again made a pun, causing her to snort with giggles. And here he thought she was more on the uptight side. Like Masami or Leslie.

"Stop." Teri whispered quickly through hushed laughing. "We'll get thrown out for making noise."

"Doubt it. If it does happen, we could always go to-" What would be a good place for a date? He paused and thought. "-a restaurant."

Teri looked at him in humorous disbelief. That was smooth. He is really trying to impress her, isn't he? "Mister twelve and still in school can afford something so expensive?"

"Uugh…twelve, yes." A wave of shame washed over Neal. He's a repeating student after all. An entire year older than all his classmates. Best to hide that for now. Things are going good with her, no need to make it awkward. "There's fast food joints all over town, we can try those?"

Teri's fun attitude dropped instantly. "A place teeming with germs and food that causes artery blockage? Try again."

Her delivery was so deadpan that he had to come up with something. That news report from yesterday made him reconsider his whole approach. Perhaps something beneficial and safe would work. "Well then how about a walk home together? You and I, alone."

"Simple is usually better. But why only two of us?" She looked at him suspiciously, slightly shrugging and leaning away, her cheeks tinged with red. "What are you planning, Neal?"

That cutesy look she was giving him. Took everything within the boy not blush and say something super cheesy. "Just...it would be safer that way. N-news said to w-walk in pairs. We're a pair right?"

Damn it! That's not what he wanted to say either. This girl can mess with his mind just by looking at him! And he had no way of resisting it. Women, dangerous. "We could be a pair. A duo I mean. Like, platonic duo. I need to stop talking."

"Mmh, no. Keep going. I'd like to see how far you would go."

When they returned to work, Neal kept making small talk. Which was just him pestering her for information. "Favorite color?"

"Pink."

"Favorite food?"

"Salad."

"Favorite music genre?"

"Don't have enough time for music."

"We'll fix that in the future. Favorite movie?"

"Not enough time for that too."

"We're watching movies in future. All of them. Together. Favorite game?"

"I don't play games. I read books. Lot's of them. My mom said books make you smart which would help me get into medical school easier."

"Ah, pushy parents shoving you into med school. Noted. We'll fix that too, if it's an inconvenience to you."

"It's either that or a janitor. Any job that helps me combat nasty things out there who make people sick is a good enough job for me."

The rapid fire questions halted from Neal. He looked at her, his eyebrow raised, "Nasty things...germs, microbes, bacteria. Janitorial jobs like cleansing, or doctors who test water for bacteria, those tasks are filthy and pose a risk of getting sick. I thought you fear stuff like this. Like, super fear."

"Yes. But some parent out there with a child sick from infection is a lot more scared than I am." She answered simply.

Neal had little to say. He could only stare at her with admiration and longing for her love. "Man, you're like a real life superhero." He muttered quietly. A part of the boy realized then and there that she's too good for him. And it stung.

What is a second year repeater, to a person with real virtue and set in stone goals of making other peoples lives better?

"Sometimes heroes need saving too, you know." She whispered back with a smile while rubbing her sore eyes. Reading hurt a lot. "Even if it's from something like too much homework, or an overbearing family whom you can't say no to."

Neal picked up on that like a hawk hunting a rabbit. He made a strong mental note to ask about that specific issue later on.

* * *

Later in the day, when the final bell rang, the class finally concluded. Thursday classes, done.

"So, take me up on the offer to go home together?" Neal asked, hoisting his violet school bag over the shoulder.

"Sure." The paper girl replied.

All was well and fine, but a certain blue cat stood in front of the doorway, not letting anyone pass after Simian left. "Attention everyone! You all got my message yesterday, right?" Some said yes, others no, the ones who ignored him or were left out.

Darwin stopped everyone from going outside of the classroom too. He even stopped Teri. "Can you wait just a second? You too, Neal."

"Ah great. Now what?" The human grumbled. The day was going fine, then those two appeared to make it sour.

"This is in regards to Franklin School." Gumball began, addressing everyone in class. "I'm sure some of you don't want anything to do with them after yesterday. Some of you were even left out. To fill you in quickly, Franklin high is going way overboard in regards to humiliating us."

"There's a plethora of other bad things they have been doing." Masami cut in impatiently. "And I don't want to be a part of whatever this is, so move."

Gumball stepped aside to let her out. The could girl wasted no time in leaving. "Anyone else?"

Jamie and Tina exited too. Molly, still frightened after yesterday, left as well. Penny, apologizing to Gumball, saying she had a lot of chores at home, didn't join them either. He overlooked the kids who remained. Good, they weren't moving.

"We're down four players. Too bad, their loss. Anyways, as I was saying, they have been bullying us for too much. Yesterday we tried shoving them up, but failed. But! After some thinking, I devised a plan. One that won't fail this time."

"Ahem!" Neal cleared his throat. "Can you move?"

"Not you too." Darwin sighed sadly. Of course, he almost forgot, the human outright refused to join them. "Can you just hear him out? Please?"

Neal rolled his eyes. How many times does he have to spell it out to them? "You want me why exactly? Surely the lot of you can do whatever it is that you want to do."

Even Tobias joined in trying to get Neal to stay. Mainly because he wasn't as scary or quick to violence as Jamie or Tina. Besides, Tobias was sure he could take him. "We saw you fight, Neal! In the playground. It was like straight out of an action movie! Besides, the more the merrier!"

That one slap he delivered? Wow. These kids have amazing imaginations, comparing that to an action movie.

"Oh! So now you remember my name?" The human quipped back and Tobias slinked back into the crowd shamefully. "Let me be clear. I'm through with helping people. I tried once, look where that got me. You can go on this childish escapade without me."

"Alan." Neal addressed his roommate amongst the classmates. The balloon perked up with a smile. "I suggest you back up too. All these idiots care about is using you and your naivety."

Gumball let out a frustrated groan, "Okay, I made no such claims. Why are you so cynical?"

"The term you're looking for is realistic. Then again, I'm not sure you know what that is, considering you're goading all of them to try and squabble with another school."

"I know what you are like. Your lack of common sense is dwarfed only by your ego which an idiot like you somehow still maintains." If all his classmates are going to follow the blue cat along with his plan, the social standards are really low in this school. "Even a blind person could see that this entire operation is doomed to fail because of one person, you."

"..."

"If one link in the team is broken, the rest will collapse soon after."

When Neal spoke again, he looked straight at Teri as if his words were meant for her alone. "You wanna get hurt because of some silly trophy and a kid who constantly messes up? Fine by me, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"I'll wait outside." Neal added as he squeezed past Gumball and left the classroom.

"Well…that could've gone better." Darwin said after a moment of awkward silence.

* * *

The human paced back and forth outside the classroom. Muttering angrily to himself how everyone is so stupid. What the heck are they thinking? Was last time not enough for these idiots? They got off scratch free when they were caught by Franklin goons. Now they're going to head right back in for seconds.

And Teri! Of all people, Teri seemed to be following along with them! He was upset. Really disappointed too. It's like they-

"So, you don't care at all?"

Alan's voice startled him out of his thought process. "Jesus! Don't scare me like that!" Right, no feet, no noise. Alan could do a lot with such an advantage.

"Sorry." The balloon apologized and asked, "So, do you?"

Of course Neal cared. He cared more than anyone could see. If he didn't, he wouldn't have even gone through all that tirade. He only hoped that whatever he said, will make them drop the entire trophy deal all together. But, Neal didn't bet on it. The entire class was one big trouble maker after all. "I think by speaking out like that, I might have strengthened their resolve."

"That's...plausible. You could've just left." Alan pointed out the painfully obvious.

"I could've. I should've. But she was there and from the looks of, she'll go with them."

"Ooooh, who's this mystery girl? Sarah?

Neal didn't answer. Although he didn't want to do this, these idiots will definitely get themselves hurt. Knowing how horrible the Franklin students are, a fight cannot be avoided. "Listen, when the manure hits the fan, I'll be there."

"Fantastic! But…why not just come along from the start and help prevent something bad from happening?"

"You assume that I can, trust me, I can't. Controlling the whole lot of them doesn't seem possible. Besides, they have to learn somehow."

Although Alan didn't agree with Neal's choice, he understood all too well. He was teaching them a life lesson.

"If you can, get in there and find out what they're planning. I bet that Gum-gum will split you guys up. I'll need to know which one's will need my...support." Of course, Neal lied. He will only go for the group that Teri gets put into. Yes, that was selfish of him, but he is only one guy. He can't protect them all.

* * *

It was now time to put everyone into teams.

"Tobias, Banana Joe, Carrie, Clayton, Ocho, you guys will be the distraction and strike the school upfront." Gumball put the most mischievous kids with trouble making potential in the front. And they will be perfect for this kind of job. Clayton can turn into anything, Joe is simply weird, Ocho has anger problems, Carrie is a teleporting ghost and Tobias…deserves to be put in some danger.

"Teri, Bobert, Leslie, Juke, you will be the search party number one, and if the situation requires it, secondary distraction. You will strike later on if you have to. If distraction team is getting plowed, pull a fire alarm or something."

"And obviously, the most important job, getting back the trophy, falls on our shoulders, correct?" Darwin asked.

"Yeah. It's too bad." Gumball replied with a dramatic gush. "Such is the plague of a leader, braving the dangerous zones for others. But someone has to do it! Listen, we will be the secondary search unit, also heading for the third floor, with two groups split up and searching while the others cause a ruckus, we can find the trophy easily!"

Now, he decided to address the leftover kids whom he didn't include in his master plan. "Idaho, Anton, Sarah, Carmen, Sussie, William, Colin, Felix and that floating ball of perfection will have to sit this one out." The kids looked at him with varying degrees of curiosity. Anton and Idaho were especially saddened to be left out. "Sorry guys, there wasn't enough space for you."

"Yeah, after what Molly told me, I'm not sure I'm angry about not being included. Franklin's principal sounds scary." The ice-cream girl said aloud.

"Oh. Pffft! Hah!" Gumball laughed. As if they have something to fear from some old, withered up man. "Now, if you all have some time, we need to talk about some details."

* * *

It was much later on that Gumball and the rest of the class finished their discussion. Most, if not all, were pretty happy and even confident in their plan. To those kids who didn't go to the Franklin school yesterday, this seemed more like a fun game. A class activity that was actually entertaining and exciting.

Those that came with Gumball yesterday, weren't as confident. Tobias especially, protested against being put in the 'distraction' unit.

All the kids stayed after school for so long that they missed the bus. Everyone had to walk back home. Some, sneak back home because of Franklin students lurking around Elmore.

Darwin, in a display of chivalry, was walking Carrie home. A truly sweet gesture. She opted out from telling him she could simply teleport back home.

"Tomorrow is going to be so much fun." She said with clear excitement and an unnerving grin. She finally has an excuse to use all those nasty prank spells.

"Fun. Yeah. Totally." Darwin replied absent-mindedly. Yesterday was far from fun. It was actually very scary. He considered himself lucky to get out without a scratch.

Carrie's grin turned humorously evil, "I'll bring Grakath and throw him at those meat heads. It will be interesting to see what happens."

"The screaming pedant you keep in a box?"

"Yep, him."

"Amazing." The orange fish then asked, "Hey, did you find out what was the little creature that attacked us in your room?"

"No, not really. Who cares, it was probably a rat or something."

"A green rat on two legs. Sure."

When they reached an intersection, Carrie said, "Well, this is as far as you go. I can make it by myself from here."

"What? Didn't you see the news? It is advised to walk in pairs now." Darwin argued. In truth, he just wanted to spend time with her as tommorow, he certainly won't be able to.

"Don't you worry about me, my hero." Carrie floated to his eye level and planted a kiss on the corner of his lip. "I will be fine."

"Ehehe…if you say so." He said, cheeks red with a small blush.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Darwin." With a wave of goodbye, Carrie blinked out with the usual sound of her teleportation left behind in an echo.

Then realization dawned on the little fish. He was all alone. He better hurry home, before trouble finds him.

* * *

Neal and Teri were making their way down the street with the paper girl in the lead.

Neal was first to open his mouth. "Sorry about the…thing."

"No, it's okay. I kinda understand." Teri replied quickly.

"You do?"

"Yeah, you don't want them to get hurt. Neither do I. That's why I'm coming."

Neal let out a sigh of relief. So she didn't misinterpret his words. Good. "But won't you get in trouble for sneaking out late at night to on such an escapade?"

"I'm a perfect student. Getting into trouble once wouldn't be much of a pain."

"Ah, of course."

Neal noticed how for multiple turn of streets now, several people were going in the same direction. They were following them. Franklin students. "Oh come on." He groaned silently.

"What?" The paper bear asked.

Neal shook his head and put on a lax grin, "Nothing. How far till your place?"

"Three more blocks. Why? You're getting tired?"

"No not at all. Actually I will depart here." The two of them stopped at the street corner. He noticed that the people too, stopped and pretended to chat with each other. "Such a big girl can make it back home on her own. And don't stay up, you got a big day tomorrow."

"You don't have to patronize me, you know." She replied playfully. "I'm only going to make sure they don't get hurt."

"Naturally. And who knows, maybe I'll join you too."

Now that's a twist. Not a while ago, he was going on rant how stupid their undertaking was. Not that she blamed him, it did seem silly in a way. "Why?" She asked, interested in his change of mind.

"Because of you. Duh." Neal answered as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Wow. I'm not sure what I did to deserve so much affection." She responded jokingly.

"Don't think about it. Anyways, I'm off. See you around." He bid her farewell and took off to the opposite side of the street.

When he saw that Teri was heading home, Neal discreetly flipped off the Franklin students, and he made sure they saw it. All for the purpose of directing their attention on to him to prevent them from going after Teri. They definitely don't need to know where she lives.

And it worked like a charm.

Now, to find a good place to lose them. There were eight of them in that group. Way outside of Neal's capability to deal with that many at once. Best to lose their pursuit in some alleyway.

* * *

Ever since their base got occupied by Franklin goons in the downtown part of Elmore, Julius and his friends were forced to do two things: hang out at home, or sneak around Elmore to the nearest arcade, and hope that they won't get jumped by the rivaling school.

Their group of friends couldn't even walk the streets without paranoia kicking in. Each time, look over the shoulder, and hope there isn't a random group of jerks trying to assert street dominance. Walking in a group was actually more dangerous than alone. It's like you're giving out a sign that you're looking for trouble if there's more than one person at a time.

However, Julius, Scythe, Mowdown and Reaper were too stubborn and too. Besides, it will take more than some big numbers to keep the friends from getting together and do stupid things. Like lifting a bunch of snacks from a convenience store without paying.

Now they were looking for the next source of fun while carefully roaming the streets.

"Man, I'm bored." Scythe, the rat with a white face and gray hoodie whined and slurped on his milkshake.

"We could go try find that 'Awesome Store' van. I heard the dude sells all kinds of funky stuff." Mowdown suggested while wolfing down a hamburger.

"You actually got money for that nonsense?" Scar asked curiously.

"Hell no! I say we jack all the good stuff." The plush bear elaborated colorfully.

"And when he calls the copper?" Reaper, the disembodied hand, asked. The tattoo on his forearm, a skull, moved as he talked.

"Like som' cops could catch us. That nasty baboon couldn't, and she a jungle clown." Mowdown added and Reaper laughed. "Whatchu say, J?" He asked the stick figure in the front.

"Meh." He wasn't in the mood at all. All three teens noticed just how moody Julius was being today.

He didn't even lift any of the snacks from the store.

"Man, why you such a stick in the toilet today?" Scythe asked.

"Parents asked where my console went." Julius said, his brooding look changing to one of anger, "Guess where it's currently at."

"Oh, back the base." Reaper stated. Indeed, they left many personal things back there. Neither one of which could be reclaimed now.

"Yeah, exactly. My phone too! It had Debbie's number on it. And she's overseas for the next month! I can't even call her because I don't remember her digits!" Julius ranted on angrily. "She might break up with me because I haven't called her in four weeks now!"

"Don't worry about it, baby. I left my TV back there too. You don't see me cryin' about it." The bear said while finishing his snack.

"Yeah, a TV is the same as a girlfriend. Screw you, Mowdown."

"I'm just saying."

"Oy! Where did Scythe go?" Reaper suddenly brought their attention to him. Looking around, they couldn't spot their shortstick of a friend anywhere.

"Hey, guys! Check it! Pudding's getting jumped!" They heard the rat's voice behind a street corner.

Upon coming to check it out, the remainder of their group found that much further away, in an alleyway between two buildings, a brawl was taking place.

Neal was trading fists with eight people. All had some type of red clothing on them.

The human wasn't really trading blows, but rather, getting absolutely trashed.

"You'd think with the way he whooped your ass last time, he would be putting up a better fight." The disembodied hand, Reaper, growled.

He wasn't present during that day. But his rat buddy Scythe had recorded the whole ordeal when Pudding laid out Julius. Then, Mowdown and Scythe at the same time. It was hilarious and infuriating at the same time.

"It's because it's eight on one." Julius said, quickly dissecting the human's predicament. Not to mention, all of them had distinct body types. One's a spider, the other is a floating octopus, dancing doll, etc. Too many and too random to be dealt with alone.

"Man, they're really giving it to him." Mowdown said upon crossing his plush arms. "Kinda feel bad for the little bastard."

_"We're all in this together." _Neal's words echoed. Like a damn virus, the idea stuck with him ever since that day. "Grab a trash can." Julius ordered, already striding towards the alleyway.

"What?" Did all three of them just misheard their friend?

"Grab a trash can!" Julius repeated more firmly this time.

* * *

Neal was punched in the mouth. Then kicked in the chest. He was sent on the ground by a good spartan kick.

One versus two, heck, even five, he can handle. One versus eight or more? No chance. And each one was way too distinct.

Octupus, a doll, bipedal spider girl, a polar bear, a darn minotaur, angler fish monster, cat-lizard hybrid, and some form of jello with five cubical eyes.

Too many, at the same time. At the very least, their focus was on him and not his crush.

The polar bear towered over him when Neal was getting on his feet. "You're surprisingly hard to break. Man do I love surprises." He cracked his knuckles menacingly.

"Then you're gonna love this." A deep voice spoke behind him.

A metallic bang, and the polar bear collapsed with a lack of consciousness. Above him, stood Mowdown, with a bent trash can his paws.

Everything devolved into chaos a moment later.

"What the fu-" The spider girl didn't get to finish. Reaper tackled her. Since he clenched himself, it was like getting punched in a stomach by a large fist.

The five eyed jello was getting shredded by Scythe, the rat going fully feral with his sharp nails and teeth. All the while, provoking the cat-lizard to attack him.

Julius was exchanging blows with the minotaur, and keeping the angler fish demon at bay.

"Get your butt off the ground, Pudding! We need yo' Kung fu magic!" Mowdown shouted, pulling Neal on his feet. The octopus and the doll jumped on the bear's back.

Neal stared in disbelief at the scene of brawl in front of him. To say he was taken aback would be an understatement. But he wasn't about to sit back and do nothing. These guys just jumped in out of the blue and he wasn't about to abandon them, even if they bullied him. Strength in unity.

Neal cracked his knuckles. Time to dish out damage.

* * *

"We kicked their ass!" Scythe threw his fist in the air victoriously. He had a blue eye, and his hoodie was torn at the shoulder. But he was happy. And now he had to cool story to tell his girlfriend, Rotten Cupcake.

"Man, shut up. That damn fish bit me in the ass." Mowdown complained, rubbing his backside and forcing back a laugh.

"I think I broke a nail." Reaper while, completely sprawled out on the ground. What a workout this was. "But screw it. It was worth it."

"To see those idiots run with their tails between their legs? Hell yeah it is!" Mowdown agreed. "Even Scythe put in work. And he never works." He added with sheer amazement.

A much required confidence boost was claimed. While the three were running high on adrenaline and exchanging banter out of excitement, Julius and Neal were in the far back, hands on knees and gasping for air.

"Why?" Neal asked while checking his hands and still panting. His knuckles didn't get scraped this time. Good. However, his blue school jacket was a mess, as were his gray jeans.

"Because. Reasons." Julius replied and stretched his back with a loud pop. He didn't say anything else and went back to his friends. "You three, I'm going to take the bus. Don't get jumped like that one over there." He pointed his thumb at Neal. The others assured him that they'll be careful.

Neal watched him go, but he wasn't about to leave him be. When making his way past the three guys, he stopped for a moment. "Hey, thanks."

The three students made noises of acknowledgement. Good enough for him.

* * *

Julius sat on a bench of the lonesome bus stop. His ride should be in a few minutes. At least he hoped so. Then he noticed he wasn't alone.

"Where's your balloon friend?" Julius asked the short blonde.

Neal took off his glasses and brushed them of any dirt that got on during the brawl, "I'm on foot today. No car driving balloons." Neal put his glasses back on and said, "Thanks for having my back."

"Pfft! I wasn't even remotely trying to help. I just wanted to rage. It's not always always that me and the guys get to cut loose like that." Julius replied in a satisfied tone.

"So you do care." Neal pressed further while checking his jacket. Washing machine was in order.

"Don't flatter yourself, you don't know anything."

"Hm, so it would seem." After a short pause, Neal spoke again. "Friends?" He offered Julius a handshake.

Julius looked at his hand for a second. He however his hand besides Neal's, but at the last second, siked him by moving it away. Yet at the same time, so did Neal. Both of the guys shared a laugh. After a moment, Neal decided to take his leave. Turning on his heel, he waved Julius farewell, who returned the wave.

* * *

Only much later in the evening, when in the bathroom back at Alan's, while washing his prized jacket, did Neal realize something. He might have just made a friend, perhaps four, if he acts accordingly.

"Dear, did something good happened?" The yellow balloon, Jessica asked him at the dinner table. Dexter and Alan too, looked at him with interest. "You've been smiling for all the evening now."

Neal replied, "No. Nothing too major. At least, I don't think."

After dinner, the blonde went upstairs to take care of his homework. Of course it wouldn't be a problem if a certain green balloon didn't pester him.

"I saw you leaving school with Teri." Alan said, floating circles around Neal while the human was busy.

"Yeah? What of it?" He asked dryly.

"You two became quite the friends." He noted, trying to act as if he had little interest. In truth, he wanted to know everything.

"We have." Neal answered suspiciously.

They fell silent. Alan couldn't take it anymore and simply asked, "Do you have a crush on her?"

"Before we proceed any further, will anything I say end up on Elmore Plus, or spread through word of mouth to…let's say your parents, Carmen or that one guy behind a trash can?" Was the blonde's simple question.

"What? No! Of course not!" Alan was taken back that his friend would even think like that.

"Promise?" Neal lifted his hand with an outstretched pinky finger.

"Promise." Alan coiled his string around Neal's finger in a pinky swear.

Neal set his pencil down, turned on his chair to face Alan and said, "Okay. It's not a crush. More like a burning storm of love. I can barely stop smiling around her. And as you can see, I'm not the smiling type of person. Every time I think of her, my blood pressure spikes. Every time I hear her angelic voice, or even see her from afar…" Neal fell silent and rubbed his eyes out of frustration. He could feel himself turning red. "Well, it's hard to contain myself. But I'm keeping it together, for now."

There was a lengthy pause between the two of them. It seemed that Alan was processing the information. "So…does she know?"

"We had our moments so to say. I think she knows. Or at least is suspicious of what I feel for her." Neal explained and returned his attention to the pages at hand.

"Teri and Neal. You and her. Wow. That is adorable!" Alan couldn't believe it. It will be hard to keep his mouth shut, but he won't say anything to anyone.

"I know what you're going to say, Alan-"

"You two are going to have some very interesting children."

Neal did a double take, working a response to that, "...okay, I didn't think you will say that."

"Well, worry not, my friend! My mouth is zipped tight!" The balloon assured him and Neal nodded in thanks. "Perhaps you need help with your homework-?"

Alan looked at the human's notes and found them to be not what he expected. For one, those were mostly pictures of people performing some acrobatic moves.

"This isn't math." He said upon closer inspection.

"No, it's not." Neal then explained, "This is Taekwondo. Or rather, stand alone, advanced forms of striking. Pulled these individual moves off the internet. I'm currently trying to incorporate them in my repertoire."

Alan looked concerned. He knew that his roommate had some unsavory tendencies like the medication he used to consume. But this seemed to be going a little overboard. "You're not going to use it, right? I mean, this stuff looks dangerous."

"If the situation requires it." He answered truthfully.

"Neal, you could hurt someone with this or even hurt yourself."

"I'm aware."

"Have you ever even practiced any these?" Most of those moves on the notes seemed to be very hard to pull off.

"Taekwondo? Never." Neal answered him truthfully. "Know what? Don't worry about it. I actually want to know more about what Gumball has told you guys."

And so, Alan told him everything. Afterwards, Neal suggested that they hang back, see who goes where, and observe from the best vantage point. Naturally, he's going to for the group that Teri is in. And maybe, if there's enough time, the others. That is of course, if they'll even need his help.

"I think we should prepare for tomorrow. I have this bad feeling that things will get dicey." Neal said upon going for his bed. Truly, bunch of kids, unarmed, heading for a school full of roided up teenagers with violence issues. It will end in trouble.

"What do you have in mind? I mean, there's not much we can do." Alan asked.

"On the contrary, my friend. There's plenty we can do." From under the bed, he pulled out his wooden box. From inside the container, he took out his book. Notes and all, about alchemy. It's been quite some time since he opened it.

After he quit consuming the vile mind numbing substance that is.

"Tell me, how do you feel about tear gas?" Neal asked while flipping through his notes.

Alan looked at him, horrified he would suggest something so scary. "That's too extreme."

Neal turned the other page. "Nerve gas?"

Alan shook again. Once more, he flipped the page.

"Paralysing powder?"

"God no!"

Another page flip, "Flashbang?"

"No way!"

"Hmmm…" Neal hummed, going through several more pages. He stopped short on one of the pages. This seemed safe. "Smoke bomb?"

"Now that…seems fine I guess." Alan agreed. Out all the suggestions, this seemed to be the most humane. "But, how are we going to make it?"

"We're going to make several. As for how, easy. Baking soda, powdered sugar, newspaper, and hot water." There was one more ingredient, but Alan did not need to know it. "Come on, we got two hours before bed and we got to make at least four of these." And the human needed to make a quick trip to the nearest gas station.

Hopefully, tomorrow the two of them won't even have to interfere in whatever nonsense will take place in the Franklin school. But it's better to be safe than sorry.

* * *

_Authors message:_

_Hey boys and girls, been a long time, hasn't it? I'm not going to apologize for lack of updates. Like I told you previously, working on a hype original story that's real solid. No link yet, so hold on for now._

_As for this...well, next chapter will be interesting to say the least. So stay tuned and remember, withhold your expectations and hype. It might not suit your tastes. I will see you all on the next update! _


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